July Favourites

Late favourites is late, yeah sorry about that. This past month I've found is hard to just sit down and write and its followed me over into August which is crappy. I'm going to try work on that! Anyway July was the month I reignited my love for my kindle after being asked to review books from NetGallery. Why I ever decided it didn't need to be glued to my hand is beyond me! I have so many books read and am going to pile up reviews for the odd occasion, as I'm aware not everyone is a book review kinda person.  However, if you are a book person, Nurse Fancy Pants is always great for a wide variety of must reads, as is the lovely Behind Green Eyes.  In short, I'd like all of the books, thankyouplease.

Next up is my much raved and loved bottle of almond shower gel from the Body Shop. Oh man this stuff is like sex in a bottle, its just gorgeous. Its on sale at the moment for a fiver so naturally I had to go back and get another bottle of it. It foams up so much and the scent lingers on your skin well after you've had a shower. I want everyone I love to have a bottle - if almond was their favourite scent that is! It makes me happy.

I've had La Roche-Posay thermal spring water spray in a favourites before, but this lad has been keeping me and the rest of the house cool in the recent heat wave that hit Ireland earlier in the month. Honest to god we were all melty yokes before I remembered I had this. Bonus points, I through it in the fridge for extra coolness. Its pricey at €4.99 for a 50ml bottle, but I really think its worth it. 

Another thing I can't get into the shower without recent is Garnier's ultimate blends 'the sleek restorer' 1 minute hair treatment for dry and frizzy hair. As some of you will know, I'm a mad one for dying my hair and treating it really poorly, so a quick slather of this every morning is working wonders. I've really noticed a big difference and my hair is much softer - a lot more then with other treatments or conditioners I've used. I think in future I'd pick this up instead of a regular conditioner, it seems to have more good soft hair making things packed into it. I got this half price along with the shampoo and they both smell lovely. But if your picking up just one hair product, get the 1 minute hair treatment. Soft kitty.

Over a year ago I blogged about Lush Ultrabalm thats a multitaking balm. (I'm not linking it as its cringe and the photo is woeful.. and the rest! Find it at your own peril.) You can use it on your lips, for chaffing, to mosturise those really sand paper knees or elbows, maybe even to take off your eye make up if your stuck like I have many a night. This does so much, its a wonder I have it as long as I do. As you can see mine is almost finished so I'm going to be getting it again soon. For over €11 its a pricey little pot, but I think its a proper gem. Plus this is my last Lush ban month, woo!

Lastly a total steal, my much loved Wet'n'Wild mega last balm stain in red. Its the most beautiful medium red not too dark but not too bright, just perfect! Its under €3 as far as I can remember, but double check as I think it could be under €2. It lasts really long, its not moisturising but at the same time I don't find that it drys out my lips, which is always a surprise for a cheap lip product. Its really easy to apply and I find myself not even looking in a mirror - perhaps ill advised! (can you say Cat the Clown!?) The one big downside is the lid, it never stays on and has ruined the inside of a bag. Boo. But all is forgiven, its just too lovely not to want to us all the time!

Have you loved any of these things too?

Book Review: Hurry Up And Wait

This was a book that I had read an excerpt of, read reviews of and drooled over while continuously hunting online for a cheaper price then what was on Amazon kindle. But no, visiting the page everyday to see if the price had gone down any was not the way to go, so I left it on my wish list for a few months and almost forgot about it. That was, until I went on a mad 'lets buy everything in sight that I've wanted for months spree' that I remembered it and bought it for (a slight ouch of) £3.29 kindle price.

Hurry Up And Wait is the second book Isabel Ashdown has published and I must say, after all the hype and my own anticipation I was a little let down. If it wasn't for some of the very adult themes, I would be recommending it for the younger section in the book shop. There are loads of 80's references that I'm certain are totally lost on me, but for some I'm sure it would be a lovely trip down memory lane. We start by meeting present day Sarah Ribbons, a bundle of nerves on her way to her school reunion. It seems clear that its more then young lost loves and old school friends that shes anxious about seeing. Something bad happened that last school year, that last summer. Now Sarah has to go back to face those ghosts she thought she could run away from. But what happened?

  We are set in 1985 following the life of Sarah Ribbons, a fifteen year old in the last year of school who is on the long and difficult path of friendships, boys, relationships and how to drink coffee because its cool and boys think its very mature. We meet her two best friends Kate and Tina, who one month can't get enough of her company and the next stand outside the bathroom stall saying dreadful things about Sarah while she hides behind the door. But if you were ever a teen girl you would regard this sort of behaviour as perfectly normal.

As Sarah celebrates her birthday with her elderly father and little dog, we are at the beginning of a coming of age journey. Older boys, tough homework, a summer job, the new and exotically named Dante, family troubles and more. The trials of becoming a more mature teen are hard enough to face on her own but then Sarahs dad is taken to hospital after falling ill and Sarah has to stay with her friend Kate for a few days. But when something truly awful happens Sarah knows things will never be the same again.

This was a very ordinary even paced teen story of everyday life and I think thats what makes the darker themes more shocking and unsettling. Personally I prefer books with a more face paced and fuller story line, so I am biased here. I think if I was to read it again I might appreciate it and grasp the underlining tones more,  getting something different from it.

What are you reading at the moment?

Book Review: The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year

Read it in the bath with a nice candle!

After spending one of my many 'lets see what I can't have' evenings roaming through kindle books, I came across this lovely one. Its £4.99, not the sort of price I find reasonable at all. (Then again, when your used to picking up 3 books for €2 in the charity shop like I am, not a lot looks like a bargain.) But Stephens lovely mammy lent it to me after us chatting about books we wanted or had read. So heres a little review for you all.

Sue Townsend is no stranger to most of us thanks to her best selling book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 3/4. Since then she has written many a wonderful story, including The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year in 2012. In the funny and weird romance novel we follow the life of Eva, a wife and mother who has had enough of the world. In the middle of the day she gets into bed and doesn't budge again for well, a year. Her husband Brain is a man of science and hasn't the patiences or time to indulge his wife in her odd behaviour when he is hungry and can't find a clean shirt. Brian calls his mother and Eva's, convinced shes having a break down. But nothing will help to get the woman from her bed. 

Meanwhile the twins are off to college for the first time and not only are they lacking social abilities but they are the stereotypical maths geniuses. Things naturally get crazy in college and its just as bad back home with Alexander the handyman dismantling Eva's bedroom for her. Everyone has a few skeletons in the closet that are all about to be found at once. My god this book is a bit of a whirl wind but I just couldn't put it down. Throughout the book we are introduced to a range of characters that we get to know as part of this very dysfunctional but none the less loveable family. Its really family life to the max, bursting from cover to cover. Neighbours talk, strangers seek Eva's advice and the burning question remains; why has Eva gone to bed?

This is not a book to read on the bus if you don't fancy getting looked at for laughing hysterically like I did. There are some real gems inside these pages and its a book that make you sit back and think. And of course who hasn't had a day, week or month in their lives where they would rather stay in bed then face the difficulties of the world. In the middle of this modern world that Eva looks at, there are some pointed questions we take away. If I was to pick apart this book I would say my issues with it are the very unbelievable parts at the ending with the twins and the lack of closure with Eva. But overall its worth a read, even better if you can find it in the charity shop!

What are you reading at the moment?