The Book Review ~ Catch Up (10-15)

I haven’t been reading as much as I would like recently due to the extensive reading coming in from my University courses. But I have finished a few books so here are the low-downs!!

Last Night at Chateau Mormont ~ Lauren Weisberger

Completed: - August 18th 2011

Rating: - 5/5

A story about a young married couple faced with the prospect of all their dreams come true... for one of them it brings FAME. This story takes a look inside this situation and how the tabloids can ruin a perfect marriage with one fateful photo... or can they??

I really loved this book... maybe more than The Devil Wears Prada. The characters were also and although it is quite a “fantasy” subject it was really believable... LOVED IT!

One Day ~ David Nicholls

Completed: - September 2011

Rating: - 3/4

A look into a date and how it is lived by two people who keep meandering in and out of each other lives. One is a failing TV host and one is a teacher dreaming of becoming a writer. They love and loose and love again and not just with each other.

What lost this book marks was its slow start. It took half the book to get going. BUT once it did I could not put it down and it had the ability to completely and utterly break my heart. A definite read but you have to have patience with it.

How to Live Like a Lady ~ Sarah Tomczak

Completed: - September 2011

Rating: - 5/5

I found this cute little book in Anthropologie on South Granville. It was a bath read and I consumed it. Everything from hostessing to style. What I loved about this book was that everything was relatable and DO ABLE. Heaven knows ThePoshGurl is broke but I was able to change a lot based on this books advice... including buying new products based on recommendations. It is a great little buy.

The Tennis Party ~ Madeline Wickham

Completed: - October 2011

Rating: - 4/5

Not Wickham/Kinsella’s best BUT still better than most! This is a story about a group of friends joined in a past of poverty some finding themselves in a place of extreme wealth. So what lengths will friends go to to gain wealth or sex. This is a great insight into friendship and how money can ruin or make one. AND what one will do for sex!! All this is set over a good weekend of food and sport.

This was really absorbing in regards to watching human nature come to life through Wickham’s words. The characters were great and I loved watching them change in 300 pages!

What Would Audrey Do? ~ Pamela Keogh

Completed: - October 2011

Rated: - 4/5

Another how to book but with a ton of biographical info. This author got up close and personal with everyone Audrey including her family. There were things in this book that surprised me and others that made me really stop and think.

I loved Keogh’s dedication to Audrey and how she took Audrey’s way of life and applied it to everyday life. It was a fantastic read!

Rules of Civility ~ Amor Towles

Completed: - November 22nd 2011

Rated: - 5/5

Looking into Manhattan in the 1930s... what could be better! Wit, entertainment and believability. I have found a new favourite author... I hope he writes another one soon.

It all starts when our heroine attends an art showing and sees the figure of a man she once knew in two different photographs looking completely different. She then takes us back to that time and tells her life story and how this one man changed over the course of their time together and beyond.

The history is superb, the characters realistic, the writing entertaining, the setting completely dreamy.... I LOVE THIS BOOK! Best so far this year.....

Winter Favourites

I am playing catch-up here but here are my Winter/Fall favs...

First up is Essie

Yes everyone knows I am a huge Essie fan but the Fall Brand New Bag Collection based on the handbag fashion of the 40s and 50s (and added Kate Middleton influence) I grabbed 4 colours and adore them! In fact I threw out all but two of my older colours!!

Carry On – Merlot Mulberry

very structured – creamy Sienna

ladylike – beautiful, demure pink

Case Study – rich camel beige

Glamour purse – Almond beige
Power Clutch – mysterious dark

Second is The Body Shop’s Delipcious

I have bought two so far and am running out fast. The light pink and the red. They work wonders at hydrating but also adds a sheen. I love that this is not sticky but really comfortable AND it taste yummy!!!! I REALLY want the purple one.... Christmas List!!

Third is Tommy Hilfiger’s Sweatpants

In Fall there is nothing like cozying up in the sweatpants and I have found the most comfy. Tommy Hilfiger-- I have the purple and green and the FIRST thing I do when I come in from wherever ... on goes the sweats. The feeling of Fall is them!!

Fourth is Juicy Couture Hair-tyes

My hair is finally growing but it is that annoying stage where it slips into your collar... errrrrr!! Any-who these are the perfect size and hold so well without pulling at the hair! PLUS each one has a really cute little gem on each one.

Fifth is my MAC Eye Shadow Palette

I bought “Lady Grey” in September and I absolutely adore it. Green and purple... together they create a brilliant smokey eye but they come with enough to range daily makeup perfectly. I adore it and panicking a little more everyday as the powders get lower and lower!!!

Sixth is Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Therapy

I don’t know why it happens but Falls come and my hands flake and crack and blah... I have tried every hand cream known to mankind BUT this Fall I found this one in Citron and Pomegranate and... THEY WORK!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! In fact this is the SECOND thing on my Christmas list.

Loose Yourself in a Moment...

Where have I been? That is a very good question. I was wait-listed for Oxford University and since then have been adapting the future to suit those around me. I want to make my bro-in-law proud, my mum happy, my big bro impressed and become my big sis! So I would be a teacher, I would be a veterinary nurse, I would be a web designer. I adapted and I lost myself under frumpy clothes, short nails and comfort eating. I didn’t even realize I was missing until yesterday.

My history class asked us to write a ‘previous life’ for ourselves and I created Evelyn May a workhouse school mistress’ assistant who falls in love with a wealthy Board of Guardian’s son and gets pregnant only to be abandoned by him. I woke up this morning and felt different. I looked in the mirror and I was looking back.

For the last few months I have been sleeping late, hiding away even missing friends... I never realised why until now. Writing IS who I am. When I am not writing I am not me. My entire ‘self’ is wrapped up in what I do. I can’t do this or do that... if I do I don’t exist.

Writing is such a wild career but it is something that must be done. I can’t live without myself. Therefore, I must be who I want to be. I have got a lot to work on but it has to happen. I need to write a few more short stories, write a new script ... and find a new job.

It’s Christmas and after having my hours cut for the last two weeks I have had my entire shifts cut. Therefore, I must find somewhere else to work. This is all happening at the perfect time... My favourite time of year!

With Christmas comes New Years and therefore a New Start!!

Resolution Number One: ~ BE MYSELF = A Writer

J.K Rowling did it, Cormac McCarthey did it...

living to the extreme to simply survive as a writer.

There must be no more denying who I am, or I will be lost again...