Thoughts of a Bibliophile: February 2017

Before half term stated, I managed to finish the two books I had to read for my English Lit course, both were very dense books and took a lot of time and concentration, so I immediately felt the need read something that was a light, easy to read but I would really enjoy. I started searching for a good YA book and came across Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I was immediately drawn in by the plot as it is described as a dystopian/fantasy novel; I love to reading dystopian books and really want to try some fantasy books as so many people rave about them. It is such a popular genre with so many books that sound really interesting and are loved by many people.

Averyard has created a world where people are separated by their blood. Silver's have silver blood that gives them abilities, some can manipulate metal, others fire and so on. Red's have red blood (surprising I know) and are like your typical human - they have no magical powers so have therefore fallen inferior to the Silvers, who now rule the kingdom. Our main protagonist is Mare, a red girl who has to steal to survive but somehow she ends up getting mixed in with the Silver royalty. I don't want to give too much away but she is forced to attempt to fit into this world and lie to try and protect herself and her family.
There is a bit of romance brewing between Mare and the two Silver Princes but it doesn't overpower the entire plot, just enough to get you favouring one or the other (if you have read it, comment who your favourite was!). There is a huge plot twist in the end and even though I did guess that something similar would happen, I have since read quite a few reviews and a lot of were completely taken aback by it and had no idea! But even if you do see it coming, it doesn't detract from the plot and I still wanted to keep turning the pages to see what happened next.

What I love about this series is that the books start exactly where the previous one finished so they are so easy to follow, making it feel like you are just reading one long book. The series are filled with betrayal, action, romance and magic - what else could you wish for? The character development in these books are so good and you can really see how they have changed over time throughout all three books, some for worse I have to admit but you catch yourself hoping that they will somehow be saved and all will be good.

My ONLY issue with this series is the sudden change in book size! I am not a tidy person at all but my books are something that I like to have in order. For example, if a book series has more than one covers, I have to have them all matching, or they all have to be in paperback, or all hardback, otherwise it is just not right! And for me, this is along the same line. I kind of get that you don't want to have a huge book that is completely disproportional to the others in the series (as this is definitely a bigger book!) but for me, I would much rather this than to have them at different heights. I wonder what size the next book will be...

This series is going to be a quartet, with the first three already released but I am sad to say that the fourth won't be released until 2018! Agh! I really want to read what happens next as the last book left after such a twist in the story! I read these books in a matter of days because of how addictive they were, I couldn't stop turning the page, constantly saying 'ah just another chapter!', desperate to see what happened next! I really hope the final book is as good as the rest of the series as I always think that the ending can either make it or break it.

Have you read any of these books?

17:55 2 comments

Shops have been filled with embroidered clothing for a few months now, an attempt at brightening the darker winter months I am sure, and I hope it lasts. I spotted these on the Topshop website before Christmas and eyed them up for weeks but the price stopped me from clicking the checkout button. Finally, I decided I was going to just bite the bullet as I knew I would love them and would be worth every penny but, when I went to the website, the Topshop Gods were not on my side, decided to give me a slight heart attack as all but one size had sold out. And, of course, that was not my size,. I was so annoyed with myself! But as you can see in the photos, they came back in stock and I did not sit around waiting, buying them as soon as I could!

The embroidery is so beautiful on these jeans, the bright contrast of the red and green against the black makes that statement but they are still great to wear during the day. If you read my How to Style Mom Jean's post, you will know how much I love wearing Mom jeans. I feel that they really shouldn't work but somehow they do, being stylish and creating a definite 'look' which I love. Because of the embroidery, they have a much tighter fit (attempting to tie my shoe laces has become quite entertaining for my friends!) so they have held their shape for a lot longer than my other Mom jeans.

So whilst the jeans are the star of the show, I just wanted to quickly mention the most loved jacket I have ever had. I had been dreaming of having a (faux) fur-lined jacket and my dreams were answered at Christmas. I wear this at every opportunity and it goes perfectly with these jeans. Whilst I am not quite ready to pull off a true double denim look, I think this works just as well.

Finally, I couldn't round off this post without mentioning my new hat. For some reason, I have been wearing hats quite often over the last few weeks and when I saw this one at work, I knew I had to have it. I am not the greatest lover of yellow, but in contrast to the light hat and the size of the bobble, I think it looks fab! The only sad thing was that it was surprisingly warm today and I couldn't wear it!

How do you like the embroidered look?

Jeans - Topshop

Jacket - Topshop

20:09 6 comments

As you know, I love books and always have but it was only recently that I began to read outside of my usual, easy to read YA books and began reading more adult books and classics. There are so many different types of classics from Greek to American but the only ones I have read are English Classics (i.e. the Brontes, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy etc.) so I thought I would put a post together with a few novels that I think are perfect for those who want to start reading English classics but find the thought a bit daunting.

When I first thought about reading a classic, I was put off by the idea that the language would be far too difficult to understand, that there was no way I would be able to understand the plot of and entire novel. However if you are having similar thoughts, don't let that stop you from picking up a classic, you just have to choose up the right books as some are much harder than others. Every so often, there will be a word which you have no idea what it means but all you need is a good old dictionary and away you go. For school, we have to read Frankenstein and Shelly (the author) has a much better vocabulary than I do so it feels like I need a dictionary every two lines!

I just want to say that whilst I am not an expert in classics, and haven't read hundreds of them, I am slowly starting to build up my library so I believe I can give a good recommendation based on what I have read so far.

Onto the books. The first one I would recommend, which was the first classic I ever read, is Pride and Prejudice. I feel this is one that everyone who loves literature will have heard of, if not seen some sort of adaptation. What I found helpful when reading this was that I had seen the BBC series (my favourite adaptation by the way and one everyone should watch, I think it is on Netflix) as it is very close to the book so I could easily follow the story line which is so helpful when I was trying to figure out the language. I do want to re-read this as, although once you have read one book it does get easier, I feel that I wasn't able to fully enjoy it as I was focused on getting used to the language. I was much easier with the second classic I read and I really enjoyed it.

And that book was Emma, another one of Jane Austen's novels so perfect for new readers. For those who haven't heard of Emma before, it is about a rather spoilt (but not necessarily in a bad way) girl who wants to help the people she knows by helping them to fall in love so she trys a bit of matchmaking. However it doesn't all go to plan but you can find out more about that when you read it! It is an easy story line to follow but I'm sure any of Austen's novels would be good place to start. I have two of her books, Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility, which are on my wish list.

Another cool little thing to help when reading Austen is this sweet little book which has summaries of all her novels as well as a list of the characters (these can be quite hard to keep track of!). If have this, read it is as you go along so it doesn't give away any spoilers!

The final book I have to recommend is Jane Eyre, which I recently read as back ground reading for school. For some reason I thought this would be much harder to read than Austen but I was actually surprised when I found it even easier to read. It is a bit longer than the previous two but I got though it relatively quickly as I found to story so intriguing. I will say it is a bit slow to start so you do have to give it a chance. A small pointer about these types of books is that they do tend to have a much slower pace than modern books but just stick with it! They tend to pick up as you go through them.

I hope you like this post and found it helpful! Happy reading!

18:40 2 comments

Instagram is probably my most favoured social media platform. Sharing beautiful photos and scrolling through your friend's photos is a favourite pass time of mine, perfect for someone who is too nosy for their own good like me!

I originally bought this book, not for helping my Instagram feed, but to get some tips on how to take better outfit photos. I really want to do more fashion posts on my blog but I find it really hard to take good photos. Although I haven't had the chance to take any outfit posts yet, Aimee Song has to be the ootd guru with her simple but effective tips. The book is divided into 5 sections: The Ins and Outs of Instagram; Capture Your Style; Becoming a Storyteller; Grow Your Audience and finally, Instagold.

The Ins and Outs of Instagram chapter talks about everything from how to use your phone (sadly it mainly talks about using an iPhone which is slightly annoying for me as I don't have an iPhone ) creating the perfect grid. This is my favourite part of this section as her examples of the different grids she has had are all so stunning and I just sit there and I wish that my Instagram would look that good! After reading her book, I downloaded an app (called UNUM) to plan out my grid beforehand but it is really hard to keep on top of when trying to fit in photo session when I have school work but I am hoping it will get easier as I continue to stick with it.

The second section is the one I really like, as she talks all about how to edit and take outfit photos, with tips for the photographer, location and how to build outfits, even how to plan which ones to take when going on holiday. Something I am really bad with as I tend to pack everything under the sun, telling myself it will need it at some point even though I know I will probably never take it out of my suitcase. All of her outfit photos are stunning and I get a serious case of Instagram envy whenever I flick through this book or see her feed on Instagram.

Throughout the third section, Aimee Song talks about how she likes her posts to have a story behind them, instead of just a photo posted at random. She has divided it into sections on food, travel and decor and she talks about all the ways you can use this to tell a story, or as she puts it, create 'Your Daily Diary'. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but there is also a section on Insta Clichés which I think will be quite funny to read.

Section four is exactly what it says on the tin, how to grow your audience on Instagram. Here, Aimee has compiled a list of hashtags to use, how to use mention comments and general ways she has found which boosted her following. I will be honest and say that I haven't read much of section five as it talks mainly about affiliated link and branding, something a lot of people will be really interested in if they are looking to start making money from their blog or already do, however, my blog isn't quite there yet so I haven't delved too much into that one.

I hope you liked this review and check out my Instagram @kizzimayblog, please hit follow and comment that you came from this post and I will make sure to follow you back, as I would love to see your feeds too!

18:25 10 comments

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