Blogmas Day 24 Book Talk: Why I Do Very Few Book Reviews in December

Today marks the end of Blogmas. Which is both satisfying and scary. It means that I’ve completed 24 days of Blogmas. But also means that Christmas is literally tomorrow and December has flown by. Today’s post is all about why I find it hard to do book reviews in December

I hate doing book reviews at the best of times during the year. I have this thing about them because I used to have to do them for English class in high school and even though I loved English I hated doing book reports.

So doing a book review in December is so hard because I don’t tend to read any ‘new or unread’ books throughout the month, and with doing blogmas this year I don’t feel like I can do an honest review on a book that I may have read. So I tend to go towards books I’ve read or reviewed.

I do have one in the works that is a DNF book and I am being honest as I possibly can with it.

Blogmas Day 23 Disappointing Books

Welcome to Day 23 of blogmas. How the hell is Christmas only on Monday. December has just flown by. Today is all on the books 📖 I found disappointing 


- Breaking Dawn
    - Stephanie Meyer
With how disappointing Book two and three are I was hoping Book 4 would be better. But it’s just as bad the first two. It could have been so much better for a last book series 

- Just One Year
    - Gayle Forman
I wanted to love the book. Really I did considering how much I loved Just One Day but I felt let down by Just One Year. (Little side note. Just One Year if you put the first letters of each word you get JOY. Which is my middle name)

- The Casual Vacancy
    - JK Rowling
I wasn’t expecting the Harry Potter Magic in another book but I was disappointed with the book. 

- Jane Eyre
Inam not a massive classic book reader, but so many people have read the book. I couldn’t get to far into it 

- Sense and Sensibility

I came to realize that classic books really aren’t my thing. 

- Scarlet 
    - Marissa Meyer
Scarlet wasn’t a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but I personally thought that it could have been a bit better. It’s not the whole twilight book thing but it did go down hill near the end. 

- Cress
    - Marissa Meyer
For me Cress was a book that I was so disappointed with. It was confusing, way to long for a third book and could have been so much better. 

- Just Listen
    - Sarah Dessen
I was was so disappointed with the book. It was the first ever Sarah Dessen book I’d ever read or attempt go read and it just fell short of what I wanted. 

Lauren

xoxo

Blogmas Day 22 One Day

Welcome to the discussion questions that I found for One Day, I should have actually published this post forever ago but just didn't for some strange reason. 

How did you like the concept of the story?

• When I first read the book a few years ago I hated the concept but would keep thinking about the book and how much I actually enjoyed it and wasn't as bad as I thought. So as I am re reading the book I am enjoying it a lot more and enjoying the fact the concept of the book keeps you on the edge. It has definitely changed my mind about the book the book the second time around. I think I judged it to harshly the first time around. 

Do you think Dexter and Emma would have been happy had they admitted their love and devotion to each other much earlier in their lives?

• Honestly no. I think the both of them needed to go through the life they had. I think by them being together all those years would have ruined them a lot quicker. Sure everyone knew they should be together, and opposites attract, but it's something about their friendship that they had that meant the two of them could be totally honest with each other. 

Did you like the way Nicholls made the characters annoying to each other as well as people around them, did this make the characters more life-like?

• Yes. Because not every friend will always see eye to eye. They are very different people to begin with, and while they say opposites attract I'm glad they didn't get together right away
• I liked how Ian would get annoyed when Dexter would be around all the time. 

Why do you think Dexter came so close to telling Emma his true feelings at various times in the book but then decided against it (for example, in the candid letter to her that he stuck in a book and promptly forgot)?

• Life. At each point he wanted to say something life happened to one of them. 

Did Emma ever really love Ian or was she just trying to, hoping to?

• I think in her own way she loved him. But her love hate friendship with dexter is so strong that Ian can never ever compare to Dex even when Emma is fighting with him. 

How do Dexter’s insights into Emma compare to her own? Is he more perceptive about her than he is about himself?

• I think Dexter is more open with Emma then with anyone else on his life that he can see what's going on with her. They are so honest with each other. 

What does the affair with Mr. Godalming reflect about Emma’s state of mind as she approaches her mid-thirties?

• That she's not ok. That she needs to start thinking about herself more. 

If you were in Emma’s place would you have stood by Dexter and vice versa.

• I would have. They have a kind of friendship that they are totally honest with each other even if it was a hard friendship. I love friendships like that, because you completely trust the person no matter what even if you don't want to hear it. I think Dexter needed someone like Emma in his life to keep him alive, normal and to strengthen out. 

Did Emma's sudden accident and death take you by surprise? If not, how did you see it coming?

• I watched the movie 🎥 first before reading the book (biggest mistake ever) and I knew something would happen, and when it did it still shocked me even when I read the book 📚 I shed a little tear 😢. 

Do you have a favorite character? A least favorite?

• I liked Sonya, the girl that Emma helped a lot while she was working at the school. I found that she was like most teenage girls just needed someone to help her. 

The When Harry Met Sally question: What do you think - can a single man and a single woman ever truly be "just friends," or does one of them always want more?

• I believe they can be friends. Why can't they is the question. Just because they are the opposite gender and single doesn't automatically mean they want more.

Lauren

xoxo

Blogmas Day 21 A Christmas Throwback

Welcome to Blogmas Day 21

Today I am dong a throwback post.

I remember this Christmas… kinda. I remember always going to my Grans house and me and my cousins would always sit in her lounge and eat with the small tables my gran always had.

I am the one who is wearing the oh so festive pink number looking at the camera with food in my hand.

I was born in 1989, so I grew up in the 90’s. The music was great but fashion… that’s a whole different story. 

Blogmas Day 20 5 Books Of The Year

Welcome to day 20 of blogmas, How I have done a blog everyday so far I am shocked with  myself

- The Ice Cream Girls
The Ice Cream Girls is about two girls Poppy and Serena, who knew each other as teenagers during their affair with their married teacher Marcus, who is murdered. Poppy went to jail while Serena lived her life, got married and had children. After she is released Poppy tries to get Serena to confess that she killed Marcus and Poppy believes she didn’t.

I know I did a whole post on this Books a few days ago, but the book really hit home just how important it is to show that relationships between teachers and students don’t work, how the justice system can be flawed, race can be used against people.

- Goodnight, Beautiful
Nova will do anything for her best friend Mal who she has known since childhood. So when Mal and his wife Stephanie ask nova to be a surrogate she agrees despite her resovations which turn out true as halfway through the pregnancy when Stephanie changes her mind. 8 years later nova is anxiously waiting for her son Leo to wake up from a coma, Stephanie is trying to save her childless marriage

This book shows struggles with mental health, infertility and so much more. It raises questions that no one would want to answer but think about. It shows just how far many people will go to for those that they love

- The Pact

For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty-- they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born. So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head


What I like about the book was that these families have gone through so much together yet when something bad happens to them both the slip away, even though the thing was way out of their hands

- Just One Day

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

I loved this book, even the second time around reading it. I love it more then book 2.

- Cinder

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. (Goodreads)

Like many people I was exited to see a different retelling of Cinderella. And I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the book. I thought it was fantastic.

- Safe Haven

Erin is a woman who is married to an abusive alcoholic who happens to be a police officer. One day she leaves and ends up in a small North Carolina town where she meets Alex and his two children. Over the course of the book she falls in love with Alex. 

I freaking love the book. With most love stories it’s hard to get into for me. I know what’s going to happen. But with this one even though I knew what was going to happen I still loved it. 

Blogmas Day 19 Grinch Book Tag

Welcome to Day 19 Blogmas. And it’s The Grinch Book Tag

1. Half of the lights on the Christmas tree are burnt out

Name a book/series/character that started out good but then went downhill

I liked Twilight, not massively because I’m such a Potter head, but I did like Twilight, but my god did the rest of the series go down hill and quick.

2. Annoying Great Aunt Sally who will not leave you alone :

Name a book that you didn't enjoy, but everyone else seems to love so it never goes away

To All The Boys I Loved Before. Everyone seemed to love that book but for me it was such a disappointment

3. Your pets keep knocking over the Christmas decoration

Name a character that kept messing things up for everyone else (can't pick a villain!)

There are so many that I can’t choose

4. You hear your parents putting out the presents and learn Santa isn't real

Name a book you were spoiled for

Breaking Dawn because everyone talked about how they were getting married, had a kid, and there was that big fight…blah blah blah.

Also Crossed and Reached have been spoiled for and I haven’t even got them. It’s a shame because I loved Matched.

5. It's freezing outside:

Name a main character you just couldn't connect with

Lara Jean. I said in the review about the books that I found she was selfish. She is one of those characters I just truly despised.

6. Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You' and it's giving you anti-romantic feelings

Name a couple you couldn't stand

Hazel and Gus in The Fault In Out Stars. Controversial I know but I like each of them on their own together not so much.

7. That scratchy homemade wool sweater you got for Christmas years ago but won't get rid of :

show some books that have been sitting on your shelves for a while, and you aren't motivated to read, but you don't have the heart to get rid of

OMG so many books to even think about.

8. Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer:

Name a character death you still are mad about (warn people for spoilers! You can also use TV or movie deaths)

Fred Weasley. I’ll never ever in a million years of boring Sunday’s will ever ever get over his death. That killed me.

9. The malls are overly crowded with holiday shoppers:

Name a series that has too many books in it/went on too long

Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. So I know she wanted the whole moon/star thing going on with her books but the last two were way to long and drawn out

10. The Grinch

Name a main character you HATE (No villians again!)

Ok so this was really hard because I don’t wanna keep saying Lara Jean from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, but one of the characters that I really dislike is Margo from Paper Towns.

Lauren

Blogas Day 18 Book of the Year... Can You Geuss

The book of the year was between two books by an author that I love. 

I chose this book because I love it a little more then the other and it's The Ice Cream Girls. 

There is so many underlining factors in the book that so many different people can take away from it. Each of those topics can effect people differently. 

It's one of those books that covers the topics so sensitively yet makes you feel bad for all the characters involved. 

The Ice Cream Girls is about Poppy and Serena. As teenagers they had a ‘relationship’ with their teacher Marcus. Marcus is murdered and Poppy is sentenced to life, while Serena is free. Poppy is released after 17 years and is determined to prove that Serena had killed Marcus not her. They get the name The Ice Cream Girls because Marcus took them away one day, and got them Ice Cream and took a photo of them eating the Ice Cream. 

The book deals with 

- Student Teacher Relationships

- Murder

- Race

- Lies

- Truth

- Trust

- Controlling behaviours such as mental and physical abuse

- Death

- Secrets

The book is set in current times after Poppy is released from prison and also the past while both girls were in this relationship with Marcus. What I liked about the book is that it flipped the stereotypes of race around. That not all black people are murders. I loved the plot twists in the book, while reading the book I never had a definite person that I believed was the killer, I would think it was one, then something happened that made me think it was the other and so on and so forth. When the killer was actually revealed I was shocked at how obvious it was and I just didn’t put 2 and 2 together. 

It is one of those books that makes you think. 

Lauren

xoxo

Blogmas Day 17 The Crown Series One Netflix Review

Welcome to day 17 of blogmas and my review on The Crown

Everyone seems to have already watched The Crown's first series when it first came out and I was with them… for the first 2 or 3 episodes. After that my love for it died down, how I got to episode 8, I have no idea. My friend begged me to keep watching but I just couldn't and just stoped 20 minutes before the end of episode 8. Then bam 💥 the new series will be out on December 8 and I have two and bit episodes to watch and it's killing me. I did it though. 

I have no problem with it, it's just so hard for me to get in to. A show has to keep my interest in order for me to actually watch it. You know that I've struggled when it's been on Netflix for over a year and I finished it. 

It's not a bad show or anything, but growing up in England we learn a lot about the royal family in history while at high school. 

I really didn't like it. I may watch the second series but who knows. 

Day 16 Books I'd Buy Right Now If Someone Gave Me A Fully Loaded Gift Card. Part II

Welcome to day 16 of Blogmas. And only 8 days left of me Blogging everyday doing blogmas. This is a part 2 of books that I'd buy if someone gave me a fully loaded gift card

Lola, Anna and Isla

Stephanie Perkins

I've always be scared to pick the books up because of the hype around them. Especially at full price.

• Illustrated Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone and The Prisoner of Azkaban

I am such a Harry Potter nerd. I love the books. I got the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated last year and the pictures are so beautiful 

On The Other Side
Carrie Hope Fletcher

I have seen seen mixed reviews of her novels but still want to read them for my self

Blogmas Day 15 Safe Haven

Safe Haven Book Discussion

One of the things I like is when books have discussion questions at the end of the book. I keep a copy of them in my phone so that while I'm reading the book I can go through and answer the questions when I want. 

1. When Alex first meets Katie, he senses that she is in trouble. How does he figure out what has happened to her?

Because he's trained to notice things in people. Plus she is so over protective of herself. Most people give some sort of information about them selfs. If they'd been married before, children, that sort of thing but Katie was very protective of every aspect of her life. 

2. What is the nature of Jo and Katie’s relationship? How does Jo help Katie adjust to her life in Southport?

At first it seems like a friendship. It's someone to talk to, someone to Listen someone to help her make sense of why she is here. 

3. Katie and Alex fall in love very quickly. What draws them together? Have you ever fallen in love so quickly? If not, do you think it’s possible?

I think what draws them together is the fact that Alex won't back down, and that he possesses qualities that Kevin never did. When you know. You know when your in love. 

4. On their first date, Alex says to Katie: “Everyone has a past, but that’s just it—t’s in the past. You can learn from it, but you can’t change it.” Do you agree with him? Is it possible to truly put the past behind you?

I do agree with him. You can't change what had happened to you in the past. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Those things that happen in the past make you who you are today. I don't think it's ever possible to put the past behind you. You can learn to change things so they don't happen again 

5. Alex is a widower who has had to raise two children on his own. How has he dealt with his grief in the years since his wife passed away? Have you experienced grief of this magnitude in your own life? How did you handle it?

I think he's handled it really well. I think it's got better and easier over time because of the children. He'll never forget his wife but he knows for the sake of sho

6. When Katie tells Alex about Kevin she says: “I hate him, but I hate myself, too.” Why does she feel this way? How does Katie change as she spends more and more time in Southport? How is she different by the end of the book? 

She feels that way because she thinks that she should have been stronger and left before she got. Over time Katie becomes more relaxed in her surroundings, she can become the person that she wants to be by the end of the book. She definitely 

7. Despite his violent behavior and his incessant drinking, Kevin quotes the Bible constantly and takes the Ten Commandments seriously. How do you understand his behavior?

I understand his behaviour as horrid. He tries and justify's his behaviour by quoting that Ten Commandments to make himself feel better.  

8. Katie’s past puts Alex and his family in potential danger. Do you think it was irresponsible of Alex to involve himself with a woman he knew could endanger him and his children?

Just like you can't change the past you never know what's going to happen in the future. You can't control feelings or how ex partners are going to act even if they have been violent in the last. Katie began to feel safe because Kevin took so long to find her. I don't think Alex could ever understand how Kevin would ever react because they'd never met.  He may have put his family in danger but not intentionally 

9. Why do you think the author chose to write a portion of the book from Kevin’s perspective. Do you have any sympathy for Kevin? Why or why not?

I think we needed the part about Kevin to see where his thought process is.  I have no sympathy for Kevin. You should never lay your hands on anybody in a violent way. 

10. Did reading this book give you a new or better understanding of domestic abuse?

I think that it's given me a better understanding of domestic abuse. There are so many different ways that people are abused by their partners 

11. At the end of the novel, Alex tells Katie he is sorry for her loss. What does he mean by this? How does Katie react?

What he means by say sorry is that Katie has lost her husband. Even though Katie and Kevin had been together for a while Katie has still lost her husband. Someone that she loved and trusted at one point. And even though Kevin had no hold over her, he had for so long. Katie's reaction may have seemed harsh, but she is still coming to 

12. What do you make of Katie’s discovery at the end of the novel? Do you find the book’s ending believable?

Katie's discovery is what she needed. Ok, you could kind of tell Jo wasn't real but in a way you also hoped that Katie had a friend. It was the push that she needed. 

13. This novel is in large part about safety and trust and how we often take these two things for granted. Did this book make you think differently about your own life and the things you value?

It doesn't make me think different about my life because I've been lucky not to go through it, but it makes me think about signs in the future if any of my friends or my self may go through domestic abuse like Kevin showed. 

Blogmas Day 14 Marshmallows for Breakfast Discussion

1. What was your first impression of Kendra as a character?

• I liked her a lot. I like how she is both vulnerable and stands her ground.  

How did your understanding of her motivations and personality evolve throughout the novel? 

• She changed so much throughout the novel, and she needed it. She was holding on to bad things for so long, she was always helping others and putting them before herself. 

Did you have any ideas about her early on that were later proven to be either true or false?

• I could tell that something had happened to her, for her to suddenly come back to England. But what I couldn't tell until I got to that part.  

2. Against her will, Kendra is drawn into the Gadsborough family crisis almost immediately. Were you surprised by her actions and reactions that first Saturday morning and beyond? 

• Yes and No. I mean, it's in some people's nature to help, and when you have innocent children involved it's always draws people in. I was surprised just how easily she fit in when all she wanted was to be left alone. 

What would you have done in her situation?

• I would have done the same as what she had done and taken as much care of those children as much as possible

3. Throughout the novel, the nightmares in Kendra’s past are alluded to: did you guess what they were before they were revealed? 

• That's what I love about Dorothy Koomson's writing style you never know what's around the corner and she draws you in. 

Once you knew the full story, did it change your view of Kendra? 

• Not at all. She was and is brave to get involved with a family that have many different issues and Fall for summer and jaxson the way that she did and be friends with a man after what had happened to her. 

What effects did these experiences have on her?

• because of her experiences she is a lot more guarded with her personal life. She doesn't want to be involved with Kyle but can't help herself. She doesn't want to break the family up but knows it's the right thing. 

4. Consider the conversation Kendra and Kyle have about ideals and child-rearing (starting on page 116). What do you make of each of their perspectives? 

• I can see both of their perspectives. They are two different people who have different views. I would have liked to have seen why they both thought like that at the time but I could as understand why. You are never going to have two people that will always think alike. 

Why does each feel the way they do? 

• Because they both have different lives. They have both grown up differently and even though they have the twins at heart, Kendra and Kyle will always have different opinions. 

Do you agree with one or the other, or is the truth somewhere in the middle? 

• I am somewhere in the middle I can see both sides of what was going on

5. Why do you think Kendra reacts so strongly to Kyle’s kiss? Was she really surprised by it, or was her reaction coming from somewhere else? Did you see either the kiss or the Kendra’s anger coming?

• Kendra is guarded when it comes to men in her life. With what happened between her and ex boyfriends friend, and then Will. Her reaction was because of all the bad that had happened. If those things didn't happen then I don't think she would have acted the way that she had. I could see both coming for the fact that Kyle 'had/has' feelings for Kendra, and her anger because her feelings towards Kyle are strictly as her landlord and the kids. 

6. Throughout Marshmallows for Breakfast, we see people who are otherwise very close keeping secrets from each other. What do you think the author was trying to say about the role of secrets in friendships? Look closely at how the secrets in this novel are revealed, and to whom. 

• The secrets that were kept are ones that are always the hardest to say, what Dorothy did was cleaver. She made each character have challenging Secrets, and they tried so hard to keep them in. It's not about friendship, or who knows when, it's about that person and who they feel comfortable telling their secrets to. 

What does each secret mean to the person keeping it? 

• Kendra's Secrets are all so different. She's embarrassed, scared, lonely, ashamed, confused 
• Kyle's Secrets mean that he is guarded 

7. How did you feel about Ashlyn? 

• Ashlyn for me was a misunderstood mess. 

Could you forgive her for the mistakes she made with regard to her marriage and children? 

• NO!!! She shouldn't put anything above her children. 

Did you think she was a good person at heart? 

• I think she could have been but the drink was just much. 

Do you believe she will stay sober?

• I think she'll try but won't be able to for long. 

8. At several points in the novel, the narrative shifts from Kendra’s perspective into someone else’s. What did this add to your reading experience? Was there anyone you would have liked to hear from that you did not?

• I enjoyed the shifts. If it had just stayed on Kendra it wouldn't be as good of a book as it is. 

9. What drives Kendra’s relationship with Will? Do you think they are a good match?

• I think what drives the relationship is the fact that he's off limits, I'm not sure if it is actual real love, but the fact that he has done something to her that no one else has done before. 
• Personally I think he isn't a good match. He made her feel good and forget about what happened to her for a while but I think that Kendra could and can do better. 

10. Each chapter is named for a breakfast–from the traditional to the fanciful. Take a look at which chapters carry which names–what are some that stand out to you, and why? Did you feel like each chapter carried an appropriate heading?

For me they all stood out. The Breakfast themes start of simple and get more interesting as the book goes along because the Kendra thinks that living here will be easy at the beginning but gets more complicated as time goes on. 

11. Have you ever known someone like Janene? 

• I knew someone who was a lot like Janene in some ways, and that person could and has done a lot worse, especially to people who were supposed to be her friends. 

Did her cruelty take you by surprise? 

• Not really, you could tell that she wasn't the nicest of people because she wanted what she couldn't have. 

What did you think of Kendra’s reactions to her? 

• If it had been me I would have done a lot worse. I think Kendra was really nice and pleasant and tried her hardest to get along with her. 

Would you have handled her differently?

• Not at all. People like Janene need to learn that not everything will go their own ways. 

12. On page 344, Kendra refers to Kyle as “the father of my children”. What does this statement mean to her? Do you think it’s an accurate description of their relationship?

• I can totally see why Kendra calls him the father of her children because that's the way she sees them and vice versa. The children had an instant connection with her. 

13. Why does it take Kendra so long to open the letter from Will?

• because she is scared. That he would blame her for his wife's suicide attempt. 

14. How did you expect Kyle and Kendra to wind up at the end of the book? 

• When I first read the book many years ago I thought they would have got together but I'm glad that it ended the way that it did.  

In what ways would they be a good couple and in what ways do you think they might be better off with someone else?

• They would have made a great couple because of the way that Kendra just fitted into the family life with the kids and Kyle, but I could also see her with someone else. Someone completely different then Will, Kyle and anyone else like them. 
• They'd be a great couple because she gets on so well with Summer and Jaxson, 

15. What themes are suggested by the title Marshmallows for Breakfast?

That something will happen over Breakfast