It's been a while

Well it's been a fair while since I last posted and I guess it's easy to say a lot has happened. The biggest being this 

We've had a baby. H was born on December 11th and wow what a change to life it brings and she is amazing.

My pregnancy went pretty smoothly right up until my 40week appointment when unfortunately I was suffering with hypertension. I hadn't had any problems or anything until that appointment. So my midwife called the unit at the hospital and then told me to come in, it was still high when they checked it later and so therefore admitted me and I was induced that night. So definitely wasn't the ideal situation or the birth we had hoped for. I ended up having to have an instrumental delivery as H was getting a little distressed towards then end so wanted to get her out a bit quicker.

I did have one side effect of being pregnant which was a little strange though I couldn't read. Like obviously I could read things and do my work but as in reading for pleasure, I couldn't do it. I just couldn't focus on it or really fancied it, so I didn't read a single book for about 8months. Now though I'm happy to say I'm back to reading when H is asleep on me and have read 3 books so far and currently on the 4th.

I'm breastfeeding so that has been a bit of a challenge. It's true what they say with getting through the first 6 weeks. Breastfeeding itself now is fine a lot easier than the beginning. It's just other bits which I feel I'm battling with ok not battling as think that's too strong and harsh of a word. A few people I know who have recently had babies as well seem to be having a very different experience than us. I know everyone is different and all babies are individual but I just feel sometimes that maybe in doing something wrong or not doing as good of a job. As one thing we are still struggling with is being put down to sleep during the day. H falls asleep on me while feeding which is fine but then if I try and put her anywhere or in anything she wakes up. I have had two successes though where she lasted for an hour but that is only too occasions and she is now just over 9 weeks old. 

Husband build a shelf for on the side of the bed for her to sleep on so she wasn't in our bed for more than two nights as she woke everyone after finishing feeding and I tried to place her in the Moses basket. So the shelf has worked brilliantly as it means I can lean over and feed H and then roll away when she falls asleep. She has mixed nights sleeps but so far has never given me for then three hours in one go. Again this makes me feel like am I/we doing something wrong as other babies same age or even younger are giving their mummies and daddies many more hours than this in one block. I don't know might just be benign too hard on myself but it's difficult when you see other people saying about how many hours they have or even being able to go out as a couple and I'm still a bit wary of going out for too long and what people might think if I need to feed her while out. Again I know I shouldn't let it worry or get to me but can't help it.

I don't know I'm sure we'll get there in time and everything as she is only 9 weeks olds but yeah....bare with me.

Only really really annoying thing which is still occurring is leaking boobs god they irritate me! But Google informs be there should hopefully be an end in site with that too but I won't hold my breath.

Will update with books I've read so far in a separate post. 

Xx 

Feeling Tired

Morning,

Well it's Monday morning and this Monday I'm feeling a bit tired. I don't think there is any particular reason behind this just think there has been things going on and probably all got on top of me and just need to have a bit of a recuperate. 

So onto more interesting things well lets see. 

I finished this on Thursday

Shatter me was a really good read. I enjoy the flow of the story, I liked the characters so far, I'm very much an Adam fan but whether this will change as the series continues I cant say yet. But as I said last week I just enjoyed reading this and I loved it from her perspective with the whole crossed out lines as though she was almost telling you in a stream of consciousness and then going back over things. Yeah really good, second one brought received and will pick up soon. (Look at Rolo lay down in the back ground, looking very orange love him)

Now in true me style I picked up another book straight away and started reading it round my husbands grans that evening before we had tea.

I'm approaching my reading at the moment where I don't just want to get stuck reading the same thing over again and reading the same genre all the time. Now I've only really started to read the contemporary genre in the last 8-12 months. So I'm sure that I am probably reading loads of books that have been around for ages and many will have read already. So sorry if you think I'm slow on the uptake (I probably am but I'm liking it) Therefore I'm trying to alternate at the moment between fantasy/dystopian genre and contemporary genre. Now I'm not saying I will always be doing this as if there is something that I really want to read and just can't wait I'll read that but this is what I've been going for with my last few reads.

So this book is in my tbr jar and in light of the new way going forward I started reading Amy and Roger's epic detour by Morgan Matson. Going into this book, I knew it was a road trip book at the cover and title suggest. The main character Amy has recently lost her father and this journey comes about as her mum is selling the house and moved to Connecticut and she needs the car so after finals asks Amy to drive the car to there. Amy however can't face driving at the moment and we get hints as to why through the beginning part of the book and then throughout the first 5 sections (that's the area I'm upto at the moment so can't really say where it develops to or draws a line)  so this is why Roger gets pulled into the task of driving Amy to her mothers as he is going to Philadelphia to stay with his father for the rest of the summer. It is a really good read so far and I'm loving the pages with playlists on, pictures, receipts, it feels a bit like a story come scrapbook of the journey. I've got about 100 pages left to go and I can't actually think of anything bad to say about this book. I think most people would probably choose this as a summer read and I would probably recommend it as that but I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to reading on.

Only really other bit to show you for the moment was the amazing roast we cooked yesterday (I say we, mainly I did it with a little help from husband) so very proud of it and it was delicious and well the portion size is on the large but we didn't really then eat anything else the rest of the day but soo yum

We're taking my mum and dad for a meal tonight as a birthday present for my mum as it was her birthday on 5th so no cooking for me tonight :) so the extra effort that went into the roast yesterday was worth it. I think we will be trying to add a roast in on a Sunday when we can now as was soo good..... can you tell I enjoyed it haha.

Well will update next week with hopefully at least one new book and possible a few other ideas and project potentially coming up in the pipeline.

Hope everyone is well and good.

xx

  

Finished it :)

Hello,

Well I did it I finally finished 

Now don't get me wrong I did enjoy reading this book I just felt it took me a long time to actually finish this book. As this is the fifth book in the series with only Last Sacrifice to come the ending might be a little frustrating for some as obviously it's leaving it so you need to read the last book to find out what's going to happen to Rose. I will definitely be reading the last book and have already ordered it and will hopefully be arriving today :) I do really enjoy the Vampire Academy series and is one I would definitely recommend, I just felt a little disappointed at how long it took me to read.

And in true style I had already decided which book I was going to read next and started it straight away so my next read is: 

Now although the reason this book was flagged to me as one to read I didn't know much about it other than the main character is a bit like Rouge out of the XMEN in the case she can't touch anyone, although Juliette causes pain when she touches people and can even kill. Other than this I didn't know much about this book other than booktuber Whitney completely loves this series, and loves Warner. She's even gone as far and she wants to improve her German to have the German copy of Shatter Me and has been reading it too.

I'm only just over 200 pages in but so far I'm enjoying it and I'm really interested to see where the story goes and what developments there are. I really like the writing style and how it's written as it is from Juliette's point of view and you feel like she's the one writing it because of repetitive words and lines crossed through just; love the concept. So yes very excited to see where it goes, soo excited infact I ordered the second book which should be arriving today as well.

Only other bit of news is that my work colleague has now gone off on maternity leave and before she left I was able to finish and give her the baby blanket I had been sewing. 

So theres the finished article I'm really pleased with it and she really liked it so that's the main thing. My mum helped (pretty much did) with the binding so was all complete and finished. I wasn't too sure about the front colours to begin with but really liked the finished look of it all and the pug fabric on the back is just amazing!

Well all for now and will be back soon.

xx

Slow Progress

Morning,

Well keeping up to date this week, although sadly there isn't much to report. 

So after another good period last time of reading two books and starting a third I've flagged. I'm not in reading slump or anything like that I just seemed to have reverted back to my slow pace again and well I don't know actually I felt like I gave reading a good go over the weekend but didn't actually make much progress. It might be though because the book is one of the bigger ones I've read so far but then pages wise there's probably not much in it when I have read two books but maybe it's just because it's in one whole book. Oh I don't know I just know that I don't feel like I've progress very well.

So as you can see I'm only 163 pages in and on chapter 10. I feel like I've failed haha which I know is ridiculous but still I was really hoping that going into this even though I knew it was the biggest book so far it would only take me a little bit longer and hoped to finish in a week and half but nope definitely can't see that happening now and so I'm hoping maybe after another week I might be there but guess we shall just have to see. It will all depend on how much reading I can get in during the week as well.

All this being said I'm fairly enjoying it so far. I mean it's nice to be back with the characters as I do like Rose, Lissa and Adrian for that matter but I do feel sometimes maybe it is a little bit slow. It might pick up I don't know yet but it does feel like it drags on slightly. But I'm only on chapter 10 so could pick up yet. Will be interesting to see what develops during this book and where it ends for leading onto the last book in the series. 

Only other bad news to report is that I didn't get anymore sewing done this week! Naughty very naughty as my deadline looms even closer so I'm going to have to rectify that this week and I'm going to try and set a side a couple of hours on two evening to catch up a bit. As have to get it finished pretty soon! Will have to book my mum in as well for next Sunday or something so I can do the binding so there's my big deadline for pretty much having it finished. 


OOOOO nearly forgot, as I was poorly and needed a bit of cheering up and as I pointed out last time I suddenly had a bit of a lack in genre in my books on the shelf on Saturday I placed an Amazon order. :) Because we have Amazon Prime now they arrived on Sunday! Which is amazing. 

I don't think I went too over board I think this is fairly reasonable considering some of the book hauls you see on booktube, so I'll refer to this as a mini book haul. I'd seen some of these books being spoken about rather regularly and then others I'd been meaning to pick up for a while and then others I'd had recommended. Now I've already decided as soon as I've finished Spirit Bound I'm going to read Shatter Me. Then with a couple of the others they are in my tbr jar already and I'll either wait to pick them out of there or cheat and just go with what I fancy. I don't like to be too strict with how I choose what to read and when to read it. I figured the main thing when it comes to reading, you have to be interested and have a certain desire to read it otherwise you won't get into it, won't feel like reading it and then that's the way I figured a reading slump would then ensue. But so excited to have some of these finally and be able to have them ready to read. I'm a little daunted by the size of the Brandon Sanderson trilogy but again I've heard some great things about these and came recommended to me as well and who knows I might be completely engrossed by them and then want to marathon them (I doubt it though as don't really like the idea of marathoning haha). Guess we shall just have to wait and see when the time comes. So there's a bit more excitement to end the week on. 

That's it for this week and hope you enjoyed reading.

Woops

Hello,

Sorry for the short absence but just been a bit hectic and not had chance to sit and type this out, but here we go.

So when I last left off I had started Fever well I haven't finished it. I had to put it down and read something different. Although I'm sure this will be a good read I just couldn't read it at the moment it was just the content in the beginning I wasn't in the right frame of mind and wasn't really a particular topic I wanted to read about so just had to stop and I'll put it back in my tbr jar to pick out and read on another occasion.

So after that and to lighten up mood and reading topic I went onto 

 It was a great change of topic and just what I needed. I love Stephanie's writing style and I loved how Anna appeared in the story as well. It was a great easy read which had me smiling. Ok yes these stories as you can imagine are slightly predictable but they are just an enjoyable read and one which has you smiling and feeling warm. Definitely one to read when wanting to interject a bit of romance but not too much swooning. I did really enjoy this but I feel like I slightly enjoyed Anna more but would still recommend and I plan on reading Ilsa sometime soon too. 3.5/4 out of 5 stars.

Next it was to the tbr jar and I pulled out this

Now I didn't really know what to expect from this one coming into it as I haven't read anything about it before and also haven't really heard much about it either but it was recommended to me a couple of years ago and it made it into my tbr jar and well I've read it. I read it on my kindle and it was a fairly quick read again I think I only took about 3 days to read it but wasn't bad. The concept was quiet good although I don't know if was used to it's full advantage, although it is a series so don't know if this is developed more as the series goes on. I liked Cammie as a main character and her friends/friendships seemed rather believable so it was nice to see this dynamic. I won't be picking up the next book straight away but wouldn't rule it out as one to pick up in the future. 3 out 5.

Now I didn't go to my tbr jar for this next one (although it is in there) I went to my bookshelf and husband. I had already decided I wanted to read something fantasy/supernatural in nature and so out of the ones in the living room on the book shelf which I realised I'm lacking a bit in this department at the moment as I have been increasing my contemporary/romance so will soon be buying some more books :) So out of the ones I could see I pointed a couple out to my husband he read the backs and gave me one to read so I am currently reading

This is the fifth book in the series and only one more after this. I have really enjoyed the series so far although I did find the last book dragged a little bit but none the less still enjoyed it and wanted to continue with the series. So I'm not very far into it just yet only about 30 pages but aim is to hopefully finish it in about a week and half as it's slightly bigger than other books I've been reading but I guess we'll see.

I am really pleased that so far this year I have read 7 books (so proud) so making good progress with hopefully hitting my 20 books for the year. I've also be very good with un-hauling books before buying any new ones, so have a few gaps on my self ready for new ones, so hopefully I will buy a few more books over the coming months (as long as budget allows). My sister also got my a waterstone voucher for my birthday so purchased two new books with that last week so I got Amy and Roger's Epic Detour and Burn for Burn, so those will get popped into my tbr jar hopefully soon to be picked out.

With sewing I haven't really made anymore progress than sewing the block together hoping to add the boards this week and then onto the wadding deadline is getting closer now so will really have to make progress with this.

Will update soon. Bye for now

So pleased :0)

Well reading wise I think I had a pretty fantastic week for me. I managed to read TWO books this week. I cannot believe it and I'm so happy/proud of myself for being able to do this. As I've mentioned before I'm a pretty slow reader so to do this I was really pleased. 

So book number one for the week I started reading last Sunday

I had finished reading this in about two and half/three days. I just flew through it. Michelle's writing style was just brilliant, it had me flying through the pages. I kept on wanting to read about Mara and how things were going to progress for her and whether she was going to be able to cope and get through. She did start to annoy me a little bit towards the end but at the same time I suppose her actions were justified. Noah's character started to develop a lot more towards the end and we started to understand why he had be drawn to Mara in the first place and I would have liked for him to become a bit more rounded. I'm hoping he features in the second book some more and we can learn even further. The ending I didn't see coming at all, even though now when looking back there were hints towards it but still didn't expect it was just brilliant and the second book will be getting put into my tbr jar. I gave this 4 out of 5 stars.

Now onto book two for the week, as I finished reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer while I was at work I asked my husband to pull my next read out of my tbr jar so I could see what it was and see whether I needed to download it on kindle or if I have a copy at home etc. So he pulled out for me 

I didn't know much about this book going into it other than what other people had commented about it really, so therefore I knew it was about quite an emotional topic, that it had evoked lots of emotions and thoughts in people. I actually bought this book on kindle on Christmas Day afternoon when Amazon had put up lots of offers so I got this for 99p.

I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to feel about this book going in but I was pleasantly surprised.

The story is told from 19 year old Matthew's point of view and he suffers with mental illness. I found this quite difficult to read in the beginning because it kept on jumping from one part to another but then that was the whole idea with it being from Matthew and a lot of it is written in a stream of consciousness which was a really interesting idea. You cannot help but feel for both the main protagonist and his family around him. It is obviously a struggle for everyone involved. It is a touching story of someone's daily battle with such an unfortunate illness and helps put a lot of things into perspective. It was a good read and worth exploring, 3.5 out of 5 stars. In a way I want to recommend to people who have read The Curious Incident if the Dog in the Nighttime and enjoyed this.

Late yesterday morning I pulled out my next read from my tbr jar (which I was a little disappointed to pull out as I was hoping for another read. Might just have to cheat next time and search it out and read it next heehee) I pulled out this one

I finished wither not long before Christmas and I really enjoyed it so I was quick to ask for Fever and the final installment Sever for Christmas. I had really enjoyed wither and so was pleased to get these. 

I'm only about 30 odd pages in and I'm not quite sure about it at the moment, I thought there would be a bit more before suddenly getting into turmoil but I guess we'll see as it goes on. I'm just aiming to finish this one book this week but I'll see how I get on as I know we are out for a period of time this evening, and I'm possibly out on Thursday as well so could eat into a bit of reading time. But the goal is to have this finished on or by Sunday.

Other bit I have to say about this week too is that I've started to make a baby quilt for a work colleague who goes on maternity leave at the end of February so only a few more weeks to go. I'm hoping to have it finished before she goes on leave so I can give it her. On Sunday my mum and dad came over for a little bit as my mum is going to help me do it, so I chose a block pattern for the centre of the quilt and then I'll put a couple of boards round it before binding it. We didn't get as far along as we thought we would yesterday but we got the fabric cut out for the centre block and I'm hoping to sewing them together this week and then I can cut some fabric for the boarders on the weekend before joining the backs and the front with the wadding in between. I will update with progress but here's a first look at the fabric cut and waiting to be sewn for the centre block 

That's all for this week, hope you've enjoyed reading and I haven't waffled too much.

xx

I love reading

Hello,

Well I had my birthday on Friday which was really nice as I'd booked the day off work so had some time at home which actually just gave me chance to get the food ready for that evening as we had family coming over to celebrate with me. So was a really great day and evening.

I was really pleased with myself yesterday as I managed to finish Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which I didn't think I would be able to get finished as I had had a rather busy week with a gathering at my husband's gran, a birthday meal/catch up with my best friend on Thursday then birthday on Friday so a lot of my evenings which would usually involve some reading were taken up with other lovely activities. But I did it I don't know how but I finished it yesterday morning and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I mean this was a re-read so as many people are I was very familiar with the story. But it was just brilliant I wasn't bored at any stage, I didn't skim over any parts I just loved it and picked up on a few little details as ever whenever you re-read a book.

Also another major book related issue. For my birthday my husband got me an amazing bookmark which I am completely besotted with. Look at how incredible it is

Isn't it gorgeous, I am so happy with it it's unbelieveable. I think it had the desired effect my husband was hoping for. The fox is made out of pewter, I love it so much. I'm hoping the next book I pull out of my tbr jar is one I have in paperback so I can use it some more.
This picture shows just how much I managed to read on Friday afternoon, Saturday during parts of the day and Sunday morning. As I was given this on Friday morning. Just soo happy with it and think it's probably my favourite present. My sister did also get my a £10 waterstones voucher though and I'm rather pleased with that too haha 

So that means I'm two full books down towards my goal of 20 for the year (although it's classed as my third because I finished MTLGTM just a couple of days into the new year) On to my 4th book for the year and I picked out of my lovely tbr jar this:

  Now I've heard and seen this book floating around on booktube for a while and I've only heard good things about. But at the same time it was mostly when people were give their top series or books of the year so I hadn't actually heard in much detail about the book itself. ( I know a lot of people loving Noah Shaw) So I was going into this book quite blind and didn't know much other than the blurb on the back so here it is taken from Amazon:

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger. She wakes from a coma in hospital with no memory of how she got there or of the bizarre accident that caused the deaths of her best friends and her boyfriend, yet left her mysteriously unharmed. The doctors suggest that starting over in a new city, a new school, would be good for her and just to let the memories gradually come back on their own. But Mara's new start is anything but comforting. She sees the faces of her dead friends everywhere, and when she suddenly begins to see other people's deaths right before they happen, Mara wonders whether she's going crazy! And if dealing with all this wasn't enough, Noah Shaw, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen can't seem to leave her alone… but as her life unravels around her, Mara can't help but wonder if Noah has another agenda altogether…

Obviously I haven't finished this book yet but I am loving it! I don't know how but I'm already 152 pages in which considering I didn't even download it until yesterday afternoon and that I'm a slow reader speaks volumes for the book. It's probably the length of the chapters which makes it easier too as they are quite short. I'm really enjoying the book so far though, Mara is coming across as a very likable, relatable character although how much of a reliable character she is I'm unsure yet because of how far in I'm in. Whether this will change I don't know yet. I also have mixed feelings about Noah Shaw who I'm guessing is the main love interest in the story but again because of how far in I am I don't know about him just yet. I am engrossed by Michelle Hodkin's writing style it flows nicely and keeps me wanting to turn the next back, although I'm reading this on my kindle so guess clicking :O) 
I was hoping to hold out and get these in paperback but they were out of stock on Amazon, and Waterstones (both online and in store) so I went with the download. 
I'm going to try and aim again to have this finished on Sunday but I'm not sure how I will do as obviously this is a larger book than Harry Potter, and I'm also doing some sewing with my mum on Sunday so that means I won't have as much time to read on the weekend as finishing up but who knows how I'll progress with it during the week.

I'm just completely loving reading at the moment and books I can't get enough of them. I'm just having to restrain myself from buying more. Need to get through a few more that I have already first and I think I will make a list and purchase a few towards the end of the month. Think I will have to give myself a limit, of how much I spend and how many I buy a month. In relation to how many I've read.

Well hope this is a enough of a bit of an update for now. Type soon xx