Breeze by Sarah Asuquo (Book Review)

 Hi guys 

How are you all doing? 

Today I am going to write a book review for this little book I read called Breeze which just happens to be about a girl named Breeze. 

Well, Breeze and her best friend Bella go to this school together called Aspire Academy, which is in East London and it specializes in Sport so basically a sports academy. and there are many cliques and weekly trends just like any other school, but Breeze isn't interested in all that and is not like most girls in her school as there is only one place that Breeze truly feels she belongs and that is on the track in the sports arena. 

Breeze is a talented athlete in the 100 meters sprint and is the national champion. That's not all it is also her superpower and as you can believe she is amazed when she finds this out, but with her power comes great popularity as well as duty. She is given a secret mission to help to save her school and change it forever but to do this she must she has to put aside her desire to maintain her newfound status and find out her real purpose for her gifts. 

I did enjoy this book it was fun and light and a good little adventure story that is perfect for any young adult or teen. I also really like the relationship between Breeze and her best friend and biggest fan Bella at times there were moments when this relationship warmed my heart.  I just wonder if there is going to be a sequel to this book as it sure did set it up well and I would be interested in this. 

Part of me did wish this book was a bit longer and the story was bulked out a bit more added a few more twists into the mix. 

⭐⭐⭐ 1/5 out of 5

(Just a heads up I was sent this book for an honest review) 

All the Best 

Keep Reading 

Stacey 

Songs About A Girl By Chris Russell (Book Review)

 

Hi Readers, 

Today I bring you yet another book review 

This book combines two of my favourite things reading (that's a no brainer as it is a book and you tend to read them!) and music.

The book is (drum roll please) Songs About A Girl by Chris Russell 

This book is about a girl named Charlie Bloom who never wanted to be 'with the band'. She is happiest being out of the spotlight, behind her camera, being unseen and unnoticed. But when she is asked to take photos backstage for the hottest new boy band called Fire&Lights, she is unable to pass this chance up. 

She is then catapulted into a world of paparazzi and backstage bickering, Charlie soon finds herself caught between to gorgeous but damaged, frontman Gabriel West, and his boy-next-door band mate, Olly Samson. The boys rivalry threatens to tear the band apart, Charlie stumbles across a mind blowing secret, hidden in the lyrics of their songs. 

I ended up enjoying reading this book it is a YA book and fans of One Direction will enjoy reading this book it's full of insight into what boy bands get up to backstage. Charlie her self often questions herself and her abilities so she is a bit insecure and self doubts herself which pops up in the book a fair few times as teenagers often question themselves and their choices another topic that this book handles well is online bulling and bulling in general, which I thought was good to bring the spotlight onto it and you do feel for Charlie when this happens a couple of other topics it covers well is betrayal, friendships and family dynamics.

This book tackles some hard/difficult subjects but manages to stay light and fun it is a very gripping book and Charlie is a very believable teenage character and the their is a very good cliff hanger at the end which makes you want to read the next book in the trilogy. I'm looking forward to reading the next book Song About Us and continuing the story. 

I gave this book 

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 

Thanks for Reading 

All the best 

Stacey 

    

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (Book Review)

 

Hey Everyone , welcome back!

Hope you are all doing well, today I bring you yet another book review. The book today is The Postman Always Rings twice by James M. Cain. This is a short read but still very enjoyable. 

It was written in the 1934, so was written form that time period and is James. M Cain's first novel. The book was banned in Boston because of it mix of violence and sexual content, but still manages to be considered one of the most important crime novels of the 20th century and was very successful on release. 

So we have Frank Chambers who is a drifter, a man when lift gets to heavy for him, catches the next boxcar out of town putting his thumb out to the nearest highway. He finds being comfortable or finding normality too much responsibility. He would rather bum it them have someone relay on him. 

It all starts with a sandwich in a diner in California owned by  Nick "The Greek" Papadakis and is in need of some help. So The Greek offers Frank a job and he accepts it. 

Frank then meets Cora, she is The Greeks wife. Sparkes fly between them, something desperate, something twisted, something that is so bad it's good. The first time The Greek leaves them alone Frank is all over Cora.

The pain they inflict on each other in that encounter is just the beginning of a passionate, sadomasochistic relationship with unexpected moments that could be classed as romance. 

Which would seem sweet except for the fact that they are planning on killing The Greek. Frank himself would never have the ambition to do such a thing. He is happy to with his idea of taking off, become gypsies and live off the land but Cora wants to be free and wants the diner. 

I did enjoy this short story it was a good solid crime story and was well written and keep me intrigued till the end. It was also interesting for the story to be told from Franks perspective and his thoughts and desires. This was a quick read with good characters. I would recommend you try it, if you enjoy crime novels and see what you think of it. 

This book has been made into a film in 1946 starring Lana Turner as the femme fatale and John Garfield as Frank it was directed by Tay Garnett, who decided to downplay the steamy nature of the book to appease the 1946 censors. There has been many remakes of the original film. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

All The Best

Keep Reading

Stacey 

 

   

 

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home By Tembi Locke Review

Hello Everyone,

Today's post is about the book From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke and if you didn't know she is an American Actress who has been in many films and Tv shows. If anyone how knows me knows that I hardly if ever really read memoirs unless it's some one I really like and interested in but this is an exception and a good one.

Let me explain this book is basically about Tembi's connection with Sicily and her developing love and learning about the culture and her developing love of Sicily also it is about the loss of her husband Saro to cancer and being a single parent dealing with the grief and her process of grieving mostly through discovering the healing powers of food, family and unexpected grace in her darkest hour.

This book is well written and narration by the author. It was very interesting read (or at least I found it interesting) and moving story about loss. It could be a good read for someone who is grieving or has lost someone.

I really really enjoyed reading this story and apricated Tembi story and her sharing it with the world. I found out about this book because of Reese Witherspoon's boo club Hello Sunshine, but I did not read it because of this or when it was being read for the book club. I did find it really interesting and a insight into losing a love one and finding acceptance. I the aspects of Sicily very details and transported me their I could imagine being there in my head and I learn something of the culture and the different ways and ideas people have from other parts of the world. I feel like I went on a journey with Tembi and it was very insightful.

I gave this book
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars

Have a Great Day 

Keep Reading 

Stacey   

Followers by Megan Angelo Review

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all doing ok.

Today's review is of the book Followers by Megan Angelo (as the title say's) and it is her debut novel, which, is a good one at that.

Here is what the book is about. Well this book heavily based on social media and the repercussions of  always being connected to it and the way it affects our life's

The story moves back and fourth between 2015 and 2055. The future parts of the book are more disturbing as the more elite celebrities live in a place called Constellation (It has nothing to do with space it is a secluded town in California

In 2055 we are introduced to Marlow, she is feeding herself her sponsor's  branded drug, which is making her look like all her emotions have been taken from her heart and forcing her to act like a Stepford wife meets a over exaggerated botox application victim. Her every moved is followed by cameras and her every move and every inch of her body fat are criticized by her followers. She is not happy with her marriage and now her husband is pushing to have a baby for the celebration of pretentious, fake marriage.

And when we are back in 2015, we are introduced to Orla (I like the interesting name choice) who is an ambitious dreamer, who is pushing herself hard to become a writer and to publish a novel, writing her first novel whilst being but is stuck in her blogging job for a website. Her roommate is Floss, who has no actual ability or gift of talent to keep her place at the race, wants Orla's help to becoming a celebrity! So Orla starts her Instagram campaign with such titles as "Soooo What Does the World's Most Expensive Brow Gel Actually Do? One It Girl Finds Out". They build up likes and followers building up the susses of Floss

With the unbelievable susses of Floss who has her own Tv show with Orla. And as soon as Orla finds out her long term high school crush/obsession (she has social media stalked the guy for years) Danny leaves his wife and appears in front of her apartment.

Meantime jumping 40 years later Marlow decides she wants to find out more about her identity and who her father is.

This book has so many different twists and turns really showing what could happen if people become overly obsessed with social media and just how much some people would be willing to give up just to become famous.

The characters in this story are so well done and believable and are vivid, sarcastic, lovely, hilarious and moving. Marlow's not on drugs version is much more animated and lively and wild a lost women who needed to learn about her true self as well as experience her own life.

I highly enjoyed this book and would recommend you read it if it sounds like something you would be interested in as it sure is worth a read. It is a really good first novel, and I am looking for to see what else this author writes as I will be getting myself a copy and reading it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Keep Reading

All The Best

Stacey       

The Dark Side by Danielle Steel Book Review

Hello, there everyone.

Hope you are all doing well,

Today I am going to do a book review on The Dark Side by Danielle Steel. I have read one or two of her books before and have really enjoyed them. So clear it was going to hopefully be a good chance I was going to enjoy this one and I had not heard anything about it before reading the blurb, which I will share with you now.

Zoe Morgan's childhood was overshadowed by her younger sister's tragic illness, watching as her parents dedicated themselves completely to her final days, and then divorced. As a young woman driven by these painful memories, Zoe has exacting standards for herself, studying hard and pursuing a career in the non-profit world, where her deep compassion for disadvantaged children finds a focus.

When Zoe falls in love and has her own child, she is determined to be a perfect mother to her child. But before long, old, deeply buried scars begin to pull Zoe to the edge of an abyss too terrifying to contemplate.

As Zoe is haunted by the ghosts of her past, her story will become a race against time and a tale of unforgettable psychological suspense.

This book is really interesting and not what I expected it to be it dealt with a mother with a lonely childhood and the loss of her younger sister, which obviously has an effect on her later in life. This book also deals with a psychological disorder called Munchausen by proxy, which is extremely hard to diagnose and this book was an interesting look into it as a lot of people have not heard of it or know very little about it.

I liked all the characters and found some sympathy with others I especially like the character of Cathy the paediatrician and I also really liked Austin the dad.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and the story that it tells and the subject matter that is in this book is a hard one to cover but I also it found very interesting, the whole book was very gripping and is one the has stuck with me for a while and will probably continue to. The Dark Side is definitely one of my favourite books I have read so far this year and I highly suggest that you all give it a try.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

All the best 

Keep reading 

Stacey

         

A night in with Audrey Hepburn by Lucy Holliday

Hey Everyone,

Hope you are doing well and not going too crazy, with everything that is going on.

I am here today to give you another book review for the book A night in with Audrey Hepburn by Lucy Holliday (if you didn't get that from the title of this post).

This book is about a woman called Libby Lomax, she is a 29-year-old (as best my memory leads me to believe) actress, who retreats into the world of classic movies. Where the immortal lives of some of her all-time favourite screen goddesses seem to have a lot more going for them in the romance department then she does.

After she has a horrible day on set and embarrasses herself in front of the entire cast and crew and to top it all off it was sexy bad boy star, Dillion O'Hara, She plonks herself down on her down onto her battered old sofa to watch her favourite film Breakfast at Tiffany's for the trillionth time.

Suddenly, Libby is amazed (if not a little confused) to find Audrey Hepburn sat next to her in her iconic little black dress, trademark sunglasses as well as her vintage cigarette holder, offering her advice.



This book was lovely for a nice light read and was very funny at times even had me laughing out loud at times. I Libby was a very relatable character, who seems to have very little lucky especially in this very demanding looks focused industry and I didn't much like her Character Cass but I think you weren't supposed to as she is the complete opposite to Libby.

As for the Character of Dillion O'Hara, he was very much the love/hate relationship for me as sometimes he can be so lovely and caring and others he can seem a bit vacant and not willing to put the effort in or so it seems.

Altogether I really enjoyed this book it was exactly what I needed and I would recommend it for anyone who likes, Audrey Hepburn or just old Hollywood it is an interesting take in introducing old screen goddesses into a modern setting and seeing how they react and if the advice they give is still relevant in today society or not. This is the first book in a trilogy and I am looking forward to reading the next to and seeing what they have happened in them. I am still thinking of this book, it has kind of stuck with me and made me want to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Roman holiday.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Thanks for Reading

All the best

Stacey

                     

The Russian Lieutenant by Peter Marshall

Hi, Everyone

Hope you are all doing ok!

I received this book for review and thought I would share my thoughts on this book with you lovely lot!

From the title of the book, you would think that it's a book about war and maybe a Russian Lieutenant, well it is about a Russian Lieutenant but there is no war in it.

This book centres more around a woman called Marina Peters, who works in the Royal Navy's Portsmouth base in the Dockyard Commodores staff. She has also got Russian ancestors who emigrated to London in the 1930s. She is wanting more from life than just her job, so she goes looking online for a boyfriend.

That is where our Russian Lieutenant comes in by the name of  Nikolai Aldanov he is a widower and a Lieutenant in the Russian Navy. The two of them talk on this online dating site exchanging messages about their lives, common interests and histories. They build up a good friendship and plan to meet in person but Marina has no idea what the consequence of this date will be, as she is introduced to a world of international espionage.

This book was so good! I liked Marina's character I think she was written well for a person who went into the events that unfolded in an innocent way. I am finding it hard to talk about this book without giving any spoilers away, I just want to share my thoughts about this book in more detail. One thing I will say is the Russian Lieutenant does not appear much within the book he is referenced and mentioned throughout the book, but the character himself does not, which makes the title of the book a bit misleading if you think it would be based around him. I think this book could be classed as a crime book or could certainly go in that genre.

This story has some really good twists in it there is at least one twist that you don't see coming or at least I didn't which left me at the end of the book needing time to process it and get my thoughts together. This was my first 5 star read of the year! I would definitely recommend this book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Thanks for reading 

best wishes 

Stacey      

Book related Thoughts!

Dear Readers,

I hope you have all been well.

Today I thought I'd share with you some ideas/ thoughts I have been having revolving around good old books and see what you thought of my ideas and if you could help me with them.

First of all, I was thinking of starting a book club either online or in real life or even both. I was thinking of making a monthly thing or even every 6 weeks and having no fixed genre, but then again would that make it to difficult to chose a book as there would be too many options? I just thought it would be a good way to get talking about books and meet new book loving people as well as expand my reading and discover new books or authors I either didn't know before or thought I may not like but actually find that I actually do.  I do have some questions about starting a book club such as

• Where to hold an online book club, which is easiest?
• how often to hold a meeting.
• if to have a specific genre or not?
• how to keep it fun and in contact with each other

These are just some of the questions if have and I would love it if you could help me out at all. 

The second thing I been really wanting to do for a while is to become more involved in the book community as I love reading and would like to share that with others and maybe have some more opportunities within the bookish world. I just don't know where to start really with this how engage someone in conversation to start with is there a website for the book community or an app? 

Please could you help me with this I would really appreciate it or if you have any tips? I would love it if you did.    

Thanks for reading 

all the best 

Stacey    

In The Tall Grass by Stephan King and Joe Hill Book Review

Hey, Dear Readers,

Today's book review is not something I would normally go for but I do like to push myself and try different genera of books that I wouldn't normally gravitate towards naturally especially anything in the horror or the scary side of things, But saying that I do like a good thriller I'm not sure if that compares much too scary or horror much though.

But saying that I did enjoy the book more so now than when I first finished the book. It has kind of stayed with me which I think is a good thing and find myself thinking about it now and again.

I chose this book for a couple of reasons

1. It was a genre I haven't really much of I have read one other Stephan King book before. 
2. I want to try something by Joe Hill that would give me a taster of his writing         

Sothis short story did just that with still being good and interesting. Just to warning there it is a bit gruesome but not too much.

So this book is about It is set in an abandoned rest stop, where a bother and sister pull over after hearing a young boy crying out for help from within this tall grass. Within no time they are separated and disoriented and the young boys cry for help are getting more and more desperate. The more the brother and sister try and find each other the more lost they become and there is someone else in the tall grass beside themselves and the young boy.

I don't want to give to much away as it is a short story otherwise there would not be much left to read about.

I found this a good book to introduce you to these authors and the type of genre I will definitely be looking to try more Stephan King and Joe Hill so if you any recommendations then please feel free to share them with me.    

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Have a wonderful day 

Best wishes 

Stacey     

My 2020 Reading Goals

Hey Books lovers,

I hope you all had a good New Year and Christmas (if you celebrate it)

I thought I would share with you the goals I'm wanting to do/setting myself for the year

I have seen many of these around being called many different things and I believe I did one last year and thought I would again as it's nice to have goals and something to aim for or something you want to do and have it written down.

So here are the goals I have set so far I may add some at a late date and will update as appropriate.

•  I would like to finish more series. I have this habit of not wanting to read the final book in a series as I don't want it to end as I enjoy the previous books so much (and no one wants a good thing to end right?). One the other hand I need to finish them I can't hold on to them forever ...right?

•  I would also like to read more non-fiction as in the past it hasn't been something I have done much of and within the last year I have done more and would like to do more of that and have a real interest in them and finding myself going towards them more and more. So if you have any recommendations or suggestions then let me know.

•  I would also like to become more involved in the book community and find people to share my passion of books with or have similar taste in books or even people I can read the same book with and discuss like a book club or just buddy read with. So any suggestions or tips you have please feel free to share them with me.

• Another of my goals is to try and read at least 30 mins a day. Which I know is not going to be easy but who said it had to be easy right? I know I might not do this every day and it is a big ask of me, but it will be worth it in the end. 

•  I have also set a goal of reading 32 books this year as it says in my Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13515326-stacey). I know it's not a very high number or expectation and the reason for this is because I don't want to put to much pressure on myself as well as I might want to read some of the big scary books I have waiting on my shelf that is fairly intimidating, to say the least, and I don't read that many big books. 

So those are the reading goals I have for this years so far I didn't want to set too many as it may get unmanageable or just too overwhelming for me. So I kept it simple and had 5 fairly simple ones. 

please share with me that you may have made or want to make. 

   Best wishes 

Stacey

And Keep Reading