Quarterly Book Review 2019 #4

Here we go, the last quarterly book review of the year! It’s been great fun writing these quarterly posts and I will carry on with them in the new year. I’ve upped my star count from four to five as sometimes I like the books enough to give them three stars, but two is too little and four is too much. Hope you all have an amazing Christmas and New Year! 🙂

The Husband’s Secret by Lianne Moriarty 

“None of us ever know all the possible courses our lives could have, and maybe should have, taken. It’s probably just as well. Some secrets are meant to stay secret forever. Just ask Pandora.”

Cecilia Fitzpatrick has the perfect life: a perfect home, perfect children, a perfect job and a perfect husband.. until she finds a letter written by him that details a huge secret that will turn the Fitzpatrick’s lives upside down.

Lianne Moriarty writes about suburban middle-class families super well and gives them generally great story lines that are very life like. As most of Moriarty’s novels, the main characters are all very self-centred and sometimes unlikable, but they reflect what certain people are like in real life. I was very invested in finding out the connections between all the main characters and unearthing what the big secret was. I also really like the epilogue at the end of the book that listed what would have happened if the characters had chosen a different path, I thought this was a real nice touch that actually tied up some loose ends too.

This book didn’t quite live up to the standard of Big Little Lies but was still a great read that kept me invested in the drama unfolding.

★★★☆☆

Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry

“People’s brains are powerful. Extremely powerful. You’d be amazed at what they can do.”

I haven’t picked up a Lucinda Berry novel since I read The Perfect Child earlier in the year but I’m so glad I decided to try her other novels.

Twins Emily and Elizabeth are identical twins, they survived a traumatic childhood at the hands of their Mother by relying on each other. They are taken from their Mother and adopted by a couple hoping to be their saviours.. however love cant’ always heal all wounds. Elizabeth wakes up in a hospital strapped to the bed with no memory.. the last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body dead in their bathroom. Elizabeth has to delve into her past and remember everything she’s worked so hard to forget to find out what happened to Emily.

I was hooked on this book from the first paragraph. The story was very sad and parts of the story made me feel very uncomfortable, but Elizabeth and Emily feel like real people. They have proper emotions that the author delves into, she isn’t afraid to show the nitty gritty of a mental health diagnosis. The twist at the end had me floored, I thought I had this book figured out.. then suddenly everything was turned on it’s head.

I don’t have any negatives for Phantom Limb, however the content does include mental health issues, sexual abuse and child abuse so it’s definitely not the right read for everyone. It’s an amazing book though, so if you can stomach the issues explored in the novel then please pick up a copy!

★★★★☆

Appetite for Innocence by Lucinda Berry

“We all have our pain and our secrets. None of us get through this life unscathed.”

Appetite for Innocence follows Ella and Sarah, two girls trapped in a soundproof basement by a serial rapist named John. He stalks his victims on social media, but he’s not just searching for your average teenager.. he is searching for virgins.

This novel is a duel narrative and flashes between ‘Then’ and ‘Now’. It is extremely fast paced and never boring, I was hooked from the first sentence. Ella and Sarah made great protagonists, they are both so different from the other and have experienced their time trapped by John differently. Lucinda Berry writes about trauma and redemption so well, her characters are all so strong in different ways.

Again, I have no negatives about this title. I would love to know more about what happens to Ella, Sarah and even John but I’m glad the story ended where it did.. I’m just being nosy. The subject matter in this book is very dark though, themes of trauma, sexual abuse, rape and other types of abuse run deep throughout the book.

Lucinda Berry has done it again, the 4th book I’ve read of hers and I’m still not bored.. although I could do with a break from all the traumatic events that unfold in her novels.

Warning: Book features sensitive topics such as sexual abuse, imprisonment and rape.

★★★☆☆

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

“We fear what we don’t understand, so it’s easier to think of them as monsters. It makes us feel safe rather than having to think about the possibility that some people are just born that way, and it could be any of us or someone we love.”

I wasn’t going to review this book as the subject matter is very uncomfortable, but it’s a very compelling and important read that deserves to be given some limelight.

Noah is an all around suburban star-studded teenager, an award winning swimmer, the best big brother and seemingly perfect son.. however he has been holding a huge secret. He molested small children at a swim team practise and is now serving 18 months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation centre. His mother Adrianne refuses to give up on him, tearing apart their family in the process.

To say I liked this title would be the wrong phrase to use.. it made me extremely uncomfortable as it’s such a taboo subject, however it sucked me in from the first page. The book is mostly written in the POV of Adrianne who is a very compelling character, her and Noah have such a deep bond and it’s actually heartbreaking to see how Noah’s revelation hurts her. I have to admit, I had a stereotype of a paedophile (typical older man, creepy, unkempt etc) but Noah completely smashed that stereotype, he’s well brought up, a nice person, has good friends etc. Noah despises that fact that he is attracted to much younger children, it makes him absolutely detest himself, which is a different narrative than what we see on the news about convicted sexual offenders. There’s a massive plot twist at the end which I wasn’t expecting, which makes you realise that a lot of sexual offenders are born that way, whether they like it or not. One plot point near the end of the book was so compelling and so very sad, my heart broke for both Adrianne and Noah.

Themes of abuse, sexual abuse, molestation and paedophilia run deep through this title, however the actual abuse wasn’t written down it was only alluded to.

★★★☆☆

Pretty Ugly Lies by Pamela Crane

“But I couldn’t escape them; my children had become my prison, my husband my jailer, and my life the executioner of my soul.”

I am a huge advocate for women to have the choice to have children or not, not all woman would enjoy motherhood and no-one should be forced into an unhappy existence because of societal norms. This book was so important in showing the darker sides to motherhood.

This title is told via four POV, each woman is a mother with a family and each are struggling, they are overworked, underappreciated and dealing with hardships out of their control. However, one of the women has snapped and murdered a family.. which one was it?

Pretty Ugly lies showcases the struggles woman face everyday as a mother but are often hidden behind a facade. Jo’s seemingly idyllic life is shattered when her daughter is kidnapped. Shayla has an important decision to make that will shatter her carefree lifestyle. Ellie is a devoted housewife, however betrayal cuts deep. June’s life isn’t as easy as she pretends it to be, how can can she keep up the facade?

Pamela Crane writes a raw and gripping portrayal of motherhood and marriage, she doesn’t shy away from the gritty details about life for these woman. Some points in the book were a little far fetched but it’s easy to suspend your disbelief and still enjoy the book.

★★★☆☆

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

“No one had to explain to me the power our childhoods had over us, even when we fought like hell against them.”

Set between 2005 and 2015, Lane Roanoke is sent to live with her estranged grandparents and her cousin Allegra at their family’s estate in rural Kansas after her mother’s suicide. Over the long, hot summer Lane realises what it’s really like to be a Roanoke girl.. rich, beautiful, mysterious and full of secrets. However being a Roanoke girl comes with a terrible legacy, one that makes Lane leave Kansas and never want to come back. However, over 10 years later, Allegra is missing and Lane comes back to search for her wild cousin and end the Roanoke legacy once and for all.

Very soon into the book you realise the Roanokes aren’t your average family, their disturbing secret goes back generations.. and every Roanoke girl either dies young at the estate or runs away. Engel wrote a very compelling novel about a disturbing issue that might make readers uncomfortable, but it was handled with the upmost sensitivity.

A very thought provoking novel that will stick with you after the very last page.

Warning: Book features sensitive topics.

★★★★☆

The Places I’ve Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

“I was brave enough to leave just a sliver of myself that can regenerate and regrow. So many girls don’t. Always, always be the girl who does.”

I wish I could forget reading a book just so I could read it all over again. I would readily campaign for this title to be introduced as reading material in all schools.. it’s such an important read.

16 year old Amelie moved down South from Sheffield with her family for her dad’s new job, she leaves behind her best friend, a boyfriend and a happy life for an unknown, small town. Although shy, Amelie soon starts fitting in to her new college.. until Reese swarms into her life. Reese is charismatic, bold, brash and charming and soon Amelie is swept off of her feet by him. But things turn nasty quickly and now Amelie is retracing her and Reese’s traumatic relationship by re-visiting every place he made her cry.

This book is heartbreaking, soul destroying but utterly important. Holly Bourne did an incredible job and I can’t wait to see what she writes next. Please do yourself a favour and buy this book, you will not be disappointed.

Warning: Book features sensitive topics such as sexual abuse, emotional abuse and rape.

★★★★★

 

Other Books Read but Not Reviewed:

• Missing Parts by Lucinda Berry
• Geek Girls Don’t Cry by Andrea Towers
• Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay
• When She Returned by Lucinda Berry
• These Violent Delights by Victoria Namkung
• Paperweight by Meg Haston
• Sickened by Julie Gregory
• Forget My Name by J.S Monroe

Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge read so far: 53

Catch’ya next time!

xox

Here we go, the last quarterly book review of the year! It's been great fun writing these quarterly posts and I will carry on with them in the new year. I've upped my star count from four to five as sometimes I like the books enough to give them three stars, but two is too…

Pokemon: Sword and Shield Review

This review is a tad late as I wanted to get knee deep in the game before reviewing. I’m over 50 hours in now so it’s time for my first gaming review!

Pokemon: Sword and Shield is the 8th generation of Pokemon games and is set in the fictional region of Galar, which is based on the UK. A few changes have been made for this game, and while a lot of hate is being given to Pokemon and Game Freak , I honestly think most of the changes are a breath of fresh air.

**Mild Spoilers throughout the review**

The Galar region is based off of the UK, it even looks like the UK as you are looking down from the North!

Plot:

Sword and Shield’s plot plays out like most of the main Pokemon games before it. Growing up in the village of Postwick with your best friend and rival Hop, you want to follow in Hop’s brother’s steps and become Galar’s Champion. You choose between fire-type Scorbunny, water-type Sobble or grass-type Grookey and head off to face each of the eight gym leaders. Other rivals for the championship include Bede and Marnie, with the latter having her own gang of loyal fans called Team Yell. I chose Sobble this time round as I’ve been on a roll with water-type starters since X & Y and I like that Sobble is an anxiety ridden lizard.. I relate.

Galar’s Towns and Cities:

As you all know I’m a born and bred UK girl, I’ve lived here all my life and I will probably still do so when I’m old and grey. So the concept that a game is solely based off of the place that I live fascinated me from the start. Game Freak definitely didn’t disappoint with this region, they really did their home work on the little things that make us British. The first villages encountered in the game are called Postwick and Wedgehurst, both are designed brilliantly and actually look like villages around the UK, even the designs of the bricks and the houses are similar. The first big city encountered is Motostoke, an industrial city near the middle of Galar. It is very steampunk, with big steel contractions which take you to different levels of the town and it’s big red brick buildings. Turffield and Hulbury remind me of Weymouth, a real life sea side town in the south of England. Hulbury has the port docks and sea side feel of a real sea side town. Whereas Turffield is full of ancient artefacts that take inspiration from Stonehenge and the Hill Figures cut out of chalk all over the country. Hammerlocke has a real historian feel to it, similar to cities and towns like Edinburgh and Dorchester. Circhester is inspired by Bath as they both hold old, Roman baths known for rejuvenating visitors. Glimwood Tangle forest and Ballonlea seem to be inspired by The New Forest and the witchy town of Burley. Wyndon is basically the fictional version of London with it’s Big Ben, London Eye and skyscraper towers.

New Mechanics:

Instead of gyms being a lonely activity, gym battles are treated like a sport in Galar. A personalised football style gym outfit if given to you before each gym battle and you walk out to an actual stadium full of fans of Pokemon battles. I really love this new mechanic, makes me feel like I am truly there. Pokemon battles are similar to previous generations, except at the end of each battle when the opponents last Pokemon is brought out, it has the power to Dynamax and Gigantamax.

Dynamaxing is this generation Z-Moves and Mega Evolutions, each Pokemon has the option to Dynamax to become bigger and stronger, however this only lasts three turns. A selection of Pokemon have the option to Gigantamax which is the same as Dynamaxing except their form changes and they can use special moves, e.g Alcreamie becomes a giant birthday cake, Pikachu looks more like the fat version we grew up loving from Season 1 of the anime and Grimmsnarl turns into a thing of nightmares. Dynamaxing can also be used in the Wild Area while participating in raids. Honestly, I quite like Dynamaxing, maybe not quite as much as I loved Mega Evolutions but it’s still surreal to see your tiny Eeevee become a giant, fluffy monster 100ft tall.

Similar to Amie in X & Y, Sword/Shield has introduced camps where you can play, feed and heal your Pokemon. You aren’t able to pet them which is a bummer but you can play toys with them and actually talk to them which is pretty cool. The best thing about camps is that you can use the berries and food items you collect to cook curries for you and your Pokemon. Not only does it make your Pokes friendlier towards you, it also heals them so there’s no need to keep going back and forth to the nearest Poke Centre. You can camp pretty much anywhere as long as it’s not inside a building or during an interaction with another character.

Dragapult is a big kid underneath that ghostly exterior

 

Y-Comm is the new online system on this game, it has it’s own menu which is super handy. All your friend’s who are online and random players around the globe pop up on it. You can see what Pokemon they’ve caught recently, Pokemon they have evolved and also it’s easy to trade and participate in raids. I hope they keep this for all the games now, it’s so simple to use.

Pokemon can also gain a massive load of EXP and pick up items by participating in Jobs through the computer at all Poke Centres. A list of jobs you can send Pokemon to are in this menu of the computer, with each job easy to work out what the client need, e.g fire Pokemon to keep elderly folk warm or water Pokemon to work with the local firefighters to put our fires. I felt that my Pokemon and I were part of the community and it also helped to train up the Pokemon you want to evolve for the Dex but not keep in your main party.

As gym battles are similar to football in Galar, each person in the Pokemon league have their own ‘league card’ including you. League cards are customisable cards that you give to other players which has all the details about your Pokemon journey on it including length of playtime, gym battles won, shiny Pokemon caught etc. You can also collect other players cards like gym leaders, rivals and even friends.

The Wild Area:

The fact that Game Freak removed the long routes from the game and replaced it with the Wild Area made the game much more interesting and it was nice to see Pokemon roaming around areas as they would if they were real animals. Even on the routes you can see Pokemon waking around and interacting with each other, but they did keep randomised encounters in too. The Wild Area is two huge areas with Motostoke in the middle which is split in to many sectors. Each sector has a name and a tonne of Pokemon can be found there depending on weather. Weather changes rapidly in the Wild Area, with it changing from blizzard, hail, rain and sun before you reach the end of the area.

Max raids are another new function introduced in to the Wild Area, where you and three other players can work together to catch rare and powerful Pokemon. All around the Wild Area are dens where Dynamaxed Pokemon are hiding, you and three other players can enter the den and catch the rare and powerful Pokemon.

This part of Galar has it’s own currency called Watts, you receive Watts from iteracting with dens and battling/catching Dynamaxed Pokemon. Watts can be traded with the various traders around the Wild Area, you can receive TMs, bike upgrades and even pay people to dig for rare items for you.

The Wild Area is honestly huge and so far is the closest thing we have to an open world Pokemon game, it’s breath taking. I really hope Game Freak keeps a similar mechanic on future releases, maybe even changing the routes so they are all open areas.

Customisation:

Customisation is back! Most of the towns around Galar have boutiques and salons, each town also stock different clothes than the others. In the Salon you can change hair colour and style, plus also change eye colour, eyebrow shape/colour and eyelash length. This makes the game more interactive and really makes you feel part of the game.

It’s in the details: 

Galar is also covered in little details like red phone boxes, the rubbish bins (or trash cans) look exactly like the ones found in towns and cities around the UK and all residents say phrases like how we speak. NPCs will call you ‘mate’ and it’s finally nice to call your in game parent ‘Mum’ instead of the US styled English that most games have. Some of the music in the game even features bagpipes which is the musical instrument of Scotland. As a wrote about above, all the towns have a distinctive British feel about them and are inspired by the very towns we have in my country.

My Verdict:

I honestly am really enjoying this game so far, I’ve completed the main part of the game and now trying to complete the dex and do post-story content. The wild area is breathtaking, you could loose hours in the vast expanse of land catching Pokemon and participating in raids. The story is interesting, I particularly like the history aspect of Galar and unlocking pieces of the history through every town. The gang in this story aren’t so much masterminds rather than a slightly annoying hindrance but it’s nice to see Game Freak trying something new. Introducing other championship competitors other than your main rival was a nice touch, made the competitions feel real. I hope the camps is something that is continued in future games, it was nice to take a break from catching and raiding to spend some 1-1 time with my Pokemon team.

The only downfalls of the game are that the Wild Area can lag slightly when online and sometimes background objects like trees can phase out when moving around and objects in the distance suddenly popping in to focus. It’s not too off putting luckily but hopefully Game Freak patch in a solution for this. The one other issue I have is the Gigatamax Pokemon, it would have been nice to be able to Gigantamax your own Gengar, Eevee, Alcreamie etc that you have a good bond with and use often, rather than having to go through raid after raid to find one that you won’t use as it’s not the one you have in your team.

Ultimately the game has so much life to it, there’s plenty to do and see and I’m a big fan of a lot of the new Pokemon announced.. especially Hatterene, Dragapault, Corviknight, Polteageist and Galarian Ponyta/Rapidash. The fact that there was a Ghost gym and a Fairy gym was super fun too, I hope they keep these options in the game in the future. I’m so glad I decided to get this game, 50 hours in and I’m still hooked!

What’s your verdict of the game? What starter did you choose?

xox

 

This review is a tad late as I wanted to get knee deep in the game before reviewing. I'm over 50 hours in now so it's time for my first gaming review! Pokemon: Sword and Shield is the 8th generation of Pokemon games and is set in the fictional region of Galar, which is based…

Monthly Favourites! October 2019

Brrrr, it’s started to get chilly in England, Halloween has come and gone and now everyone is on a mad one for Christmas. I’ve really enjoyed this month, I’ve seen friends more, come off some medication that was making me feel bad and we planned and hosted our very first Halloween party in the flat.

Seraph of the End

This series is set in a post apocalyptic world where a deadly ‘human-made virus’ has wiped out the adults, leaving only children under 12 unaffected. During the virus outbreak, Vampires came out of hiding and took Earth back for themselves. Seraph of the End starts when 12 year old Yūichirō (Yui for short) and his friend and fellow orphan Mikaela (Mika for short) plan to escape the Vampire run Orphanage they now live in. However they were caught by the vampires and Mika supposedly died while Yui managed to escape, ultimately being found by a branch of the Demon Army and taken in by them. Four years later Yui trains to be a member of the army and seeks out revenge for his family being murdered.

This series is only short (12 episodes in both season) but it’s packed with action, interesting characters with complicated backgrounds and some badass demon weapons. For fans of supernatural anime.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

I won’t harp on about this game in as much detail as I wrote a post about it a few months ago, which you can find here. Animal Crossing is one of my favourite game franchises ever, 6 console games plus this mobile game exist and each are different from the last. AC: Pocket Camp resolves around a camp which you as the player run, you can move in your favourite animals, customise the camp/your camper/a cabin, run errands for the animals, fish/catch bugs/collect fruit, craft furniture/clothes/event items and much more. I always get obsessed when the Halloween event is on, each year it is different but you can craft spooky furniture and clothes to feature in your camp, plus collect exclusive items you can’t get any other time. As Christmas is coming my camp is looking half spooky and half christmassy at the moment.

Pumpkin Painting

Instead of carving my usual Jack Skellington pumpkin.. I painted him instead, and gave him a Sally pumpkin as company. First I primed the pumpkins with white acrylic spray paint, I did two to three layers each, then used acrylic paint and sharpies to fill in all the details. I had a cosplay Jack Skellington cat bow tie so I popped that on the bottom of the Jack pumpkin, I’m really happy with how they turned out!

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Set in a world which is divided into four nations, The Water Tribe, The Earth Kingdom, The Air Nomads and The Fire Nation, with each nation representing one of the four elements. Benders have the ability to control and manipulate one of the four elements, with only the Avatar who can master all of them. Deep into the One Hundred Year War, the Fire Nation are hellbent on conquering the world and only one person can stop this and bring harmony to all nations.. the Avatar. Aang was missing for 100 years, only to be found by Katara and Sokka, two members of the Water Tribe. Aang and his new friends must travel the world for Aang to master all elements and save the world from the Fire Nation.

I LOVE this series, I didn’t manage to catch it when it originally aired on Nickelodeon in 2005 so I’m glad Netflix has all 3 seasons listed. Avatar has one of the greatest story developments of any animated series, it showcases real world issues like war, immigration, disability, self doubt and grief in a real way. All characters are memorable, even the ones that only showed up for one episode and each served a purpose. Do yourself a favour and binge watch this show, it really paved way to the complex animated shows we know today.

Lucinda Berry

I gravitate towards authors who aren’t scared to write a story about the worst parts of society, life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows like a lot of authors like you to think and sometimes there isn’t a happy ending to some people’s stories. This is why I love Lucinda Berry. I have read around 6 of her books this year, each just as depressing and uncomfortable as the last. Berry is a clinical psychologist who specialises in trauma and children so her books are very real and the trauma the characters feel are how real people would feel in the same situations. Please check her out if you like uncomfortable but compelling reads!

Halloween 

Honestly, I’m super sad to see Halloween come and go. It’s the one time of the year I feel my interests aren’t considered weird, I can fill my house with spooky items and no-one bats an eyelid, I can go out in a witch costume and everyone just assumes I’m off to a Halloween bash… good times. However it was a super good one this year, everyone was feeling the ‘ol hallows eve spirit and we had a bloody good nightI also had a baking day and made loads of Halloween themed cakes and treats!

 

Hope you all had a great spooky season, catch’ya next month!

xox

Brrrr, it's started to get chilly in England, Halloween has come and gone and now everyone is on a mad one for Christmas. I've really enjoyed this month, I've seen friends more, come off some medication that was making me feel bad and we planned and hosted our very first Halloween party in the flat.…

My Pokemon Team

Pokemon: Sword and Shield is only two days away! I’m so darn excited and have finally decided to go with Shield as I prefer the Ghost Gym Leader over the Fighting one and I love the look of Galarian Ponyta. My partner is getting Sword but we are going to swap the legendaries around as I prefer the look of Zacian and he prefers Zamazenta, also we will swap all our exclusives with each other so I’m hoping to have quite a filled dex in this game! I’m getting fidgety awaiting the arrival of this game so thought I would reminisce over who I’d have in my team if I was a real Pokemon trainer.

Who Would I Be?

Firstly, who would I be in the Pokemon world? I’d love to be a witchy Pokemon trainer that uses her psychic, fairy and ghost Pokemon to help the community, whether that be healing others, aiding in disasters and generally giving happiness back to the towns. I’m uncertain what region I’d prefer to live in, I like the Kanto region, especially Fuchia City and Lavender Town, but we will see how nice Galar is! As Galar is based on the UK, I’d love for Game Freak to introduce a range of Pagan or Druid characters to battle, if they do, then my character would definitely be one of them.

My Pokemon Team:

Espeon

I fell in love with Espeon while playing Pokemon: Colosseum as you started with Espeon and Umbreon on your team. I love cats in the real world so why wouldn’t that transfer over to the Pokemon world? Espeon is quite powerful for such a small Pokemon but it’s psychic moves would come in handy for moving objects in our way and helping other’s. There is one Pokemon for everyone that you have an affinity with, one that you understand completely.. Esepon is mine, we are one hell of a team.

Mimikyu

I was unsure of Mimikyu before playing Sun & Moon, I thought it was a bit gimmicky and wouldn’t hold it’s own in a team.. but I was so wrong. Mimikyu is a powerhouse, I used it a lot along side Espeon. It would be great to use to scare off the bad guys without having to fight Pokemon. Also, I’m a huge fan of creepy, cute things.

Typhlosion

The Cyndaquil evolution line is probably the only starter line that I would have active on my team. Typlosion is a very powerful Pokemon but also has it’s uses for every day activities, making fires cooking food, cauterising wounds.. also would be a great hot water bottle when out in the cold. It’s so big that I could ride it too, giving it exercise and also meaning I wouldn’t have to pay for a bus.. win win.

Lapras

I’ve loved Lapras since my 6 year old self started watching the series, I also had a blue long sleeved t-shirt with Lapras on the front.. I was obsessed. Although Lapras isn’t as powerful as some of the others on this list, I feel she would be super helpful in an everyday way. It’s always handy to have a constant supply of water, also we could use her to travel and help us catch food in the sea and rivers.

Sylveon

As you have seen so far, I’m a big fan of Eeveelutions, I’d happily have a team of Eevees if I had to. Sylveon was introduced in X & Y, I thought it was cute but didn’t go out of my way to own one. However I had a great friendship with my Eevee and she accidentally evolved in to Sylveon.. once I started playing with this evolution I really started to love it. So powerful but also so sickly cute, my Sylveon knew Moonblast and honestly that was such an over powered move.. we were unstoppable!

Umbreon

Same as Espeon, I fell in love with Umbreon during Pokemon: Colosseum and it has stayed firmly on my team ever since. I try to use Espeon and Umbreon together in double battles as Espeon is good as offense and Umbreon defence. Also, I feel Umbreon fairs well in my witchy team.

______

Who Am I Wanting in My Galarian Team?

****Spoilers**** if you haven’t seen the new Sword and Shield leaks then please scroll to the bottom! *****

I’m so happy about some of the new Pokemon in Sword/Shield, there is a lot a Psychic and Fairy announcements which are two of my favourite typings.

Firstly, I’m so excited to see most of my favourites returning, all the Pokemon I’ve listed above will be in the new games! I got quite lucky, as a lot of Pokemon were culled.

A few Pokemon that really caught my eye and I’m excited to catch are Hatterene that is the final evolution of Hattena and Hattrem, which is a psychic fairy type and also looks like a witch (bonus!). Impidimp and it’s two evolutions (Morgrem and Grimmsnarl) look super interesting and is really playing on the imp urban stories from UK folklore. The Dragapult evolution line looks great too, this includes Dreepy and Drakloak which are all dragon/ghost type, also Dragapult looks like it can shoot it’s children at enemies (different but interesting). As it’s so very British, Polteageist has to be on my team in some way. It’s a ghost type that haunts a tea pot, with it’s first evolution haunting a tea cup (Sinistea). As I said above, I mostly bought Shield for Galarian Ponyta as it looks so beautiful and I’m a huge fan of Psychic typing, but I’m also looking forward to trying out the Tyranitar evolution line and Goodra evolution line as I haven’t caught either of these in a previous game. Finally, my starter Pokemon has to be Sobble, a social awkward water lizard.. what’s more to love?

You can find a list of some of the new Pokemon here and here if you are interested (or are like me and can’t contain your curiosity)!

I will update my team once Sword & Shield come out as there is a few Pokemon that have been leaked that I’d love to have on my team permanently.

Which version are you going to go for and also which Pokemon are you most looking forward to catching?

xox

Pokemon: Sword and Shield is only two days away! I'm so darn excited and have finally decided to go with Shield as I prefer the Ghost Gym Leader over the Fighting one and I love the look of Galarian Ponyta. My partner is getting Sword but we are going to swap the legendaries around as…

The Real Neat Blogger Award

Thank you so much to Pinkie at Pinkie’s Pokemon for the nomination! Please check out her blog for all things Pink, Pokemon and fun 🙂

The Rules:

 

• Display the Award Logo.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you and post a link to their blog.
• Answer the questions of the one who nominated you.
• Nominate 7-10 bloggers.
• Ask them seven questions.

 

My Answers:

 

•  What is the thing that you fear most?

For someone who lives for Halloween and has a house decorated in skulls.. I’m a bit of a scaredy cat. I’m terrified of spiders and I get nauseous and shaky with heights but I think I’m most scared of being alone in the end. I don’t have any brothers or sisters so I heavily rely on my friends and my boyfriend.. but what happens if I outlive them all and end up a lonely spinster with 300 cats?

• You are a character in a horror movie (a teenager) what trope would you be?

I just know I’d either be the first one booted off or I’d end up being the final girl as I would just hide for the whole time like the scaredy cat I am, while everyone else is battling the monsters/aliens/axe wielding psychopaths.

• What do you think comes after death?

Ooh this is an interesting question… I’m not really sure what I think happens after death, I try not to think about it too hard. I’d like to think either our soul is recycled into another being or our energy get’s absorbed back into the Earth and we become one with nature.

• You are now a Horror Villain, what is your backstory and what is your main weapon?

I’m quite partial to a Scythe, similar to the one Shinoa Hiragi uses in Seraph of the End. I’ve been watching a lot of anime lately so I’d love to be an anime horror villain… but maybe more of a misunderstood character rather than a full on villain. Would be cool to have an anime about trainee grim reapers who use demon style scythes to end people’s lives when their time is up. 

Shinoa and the most badass weapon I’ve ever seen

 

• What is the weirdest (mysterious) thing you have ever experienced (think ghosts, aliens, elvis spotting etc)

I’ve never attracted much spookiness.. I’ve never seen a falling star let alone a space ship. However when I was little my cat died, she was the sweetest cat I’ve ever met and I loved her immensely. A couple of weeks after her death for a split second I thought I saw her roaming the house, when when I looked back around she was gone. Not sure if it was a trick of the eye or she generally was there. R.I.P Pebbles ❤

•  You become a ‘classic’ monster you can choose between, A vampire who sparkles and has to drink to death. A werewolf, who loses control at moonlight and will hunt, a green skinned warty witch who eats children or a regular zombie what do you choose?

I would have said Witch in a heartbeat if I didn’t have to be warty, green and eat children.. I don’t think they’d taste very nice. I’m allergic to dogs so if I transformed into a Werewolf every full moon I’d end up being allergic to myself.. and would break out in horrible eczema. A Zombie isn’t my idea of a fun time either, cannibalism is very grim and I don’t fancy rotting away in to nothingness in the end. So I’ll have to pick Vampire.. even if it does sparkle. I could have lush pale skin and beautiful hair and walk around in Gothic attire all day every day.. bliss. Maybe I could drink animal blood instead of human blood though? Or just break into the blood banks every night?

• What is your favourite scary movie?

I love love love the Saw franchise. It’s gross, has an interesting story and I’m a huge fan of special FX make-up which Saw is rife with. I do love the Final Destination films too but it gives really bad anxiety and the main reason I’ve never stepped in a tanning bed (yeah, you know that infamous scene).

• (Bonus question : What is that weird thing standing behind you?)

There’s nothing behind me, don’t be sill… *looks around* AAAAAAHHHH!.

Questions For You:

Let’s have some seasonal questions thrown in here seeing as it’s nearly Halloween and Christmas!

• What’s your favourite holiday? (Halloween, Christmas, Easter, 4th July etc etc).
• You can swap places with a film/book/TV character for a year, who do you choose and why?
• If you could rid the world of one bad thing (murder/famine/mental illness etc etc) what would you choose and why?
• You discover Santa Claus is real and he wants you to take over his business, would you?
• You discover you have magic powers, what powers do you have?
• Would you rather be a character in a H.P Lovecraft novel or Stephen King novel? What would your character be?
• Halloween is coming up, what sweets/candy do you want to find in your bag?

 

Nominations:

I nominate:

The Gaming Diaries

Musings of a Mad Misanthrope

Wolf of Words

The Dragon’s Tea Party

Fred’s Life

The Spooky Red Head

Chrome Chronicles 

A big thank you again to Pinkie for the nomination and giving me some fun, spooky questions to answer!

xox

Thank you so much to Pinkie at Pinkie's Pokemon for the nomination! Please check out her blog for all things Pink, Pokemon and fun 🙂 The Rules:   Display the Award Logo. Thank the blogger who nominated you and post a link to their blog. Answer the questions of the one who nominated you. Nominate…

Quarterly Book Review 2019 #3

Where has the time gone?! I’m already on the third part of this year’s Quarterly Book Reviews, this quarter I will be reviewing books from July – September. This month has been full of biographies, I re-read This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay which I reviewed last year and found some brilliant thrillers that kept me guessing.

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

“Being nice is a good thing. You can be strong and nice. You don’t have to be one or the other”

Tiffy Moore has broken up with her boyfriend (well, ex) and now needs a cheap flat, quick. Leon Twomey needs some cash to help his incarcerated brother. They agree on a flatshare, Tiffy runs the the one-bedroom flat in the evenings then when she’s at work Leon occupies the flat in the day. Tiffy and Leon haven’t met, however they get to know each other through sticky notes left around the flat and their lives start to intertwine more than they could ever have imaged.

This book was beyond great, I was hooked from the first page. Although the book seemed ctuesy and fluffy on the outside, deep down the book had quite a serious undertone. Both characters had issues going on in their lives, Tiffy with an abusive ex-boyfriend and Leon with his falsely accused, incarcerated brother.

Each chapter was narrated by either Tiffy or Leon, the format of the typing changed with each character too. The supporting characters were all very unique and had interesting back stories, they tied into the story really well.

For anyone that loves a good rom-com story with a twist!

★★★☆

Vox by Christina Dalcher

“Monsters aren’t born, ever. They’re made, piece by piece and limb by limb, artificial creations of madmen who, like the misguided Frankenstein, always think they know better”

Set in a near-future dystopian America where the rise of an extremist religious group have become to power. They have stopped woman working, reading and have shackled them to a word counter ‘bracelet’ that limits their speech to 100 words per day. Dr. Jean McClellan ignored the signs that this day was coming, now it’s time for her to stand up for herself, her daughter and all the woman in America.

Vox was hailed as a new version of The Handmaid’s Tale but honestly, I have little good feedback about this title. The concept was a very interesting concept, considering what is happening in America right now with Women’s Bodily Autonomy being taken away bit by bit. However, it fell super flat for me.

The whole story seemed rushed and every issue was sorted out too quickly.. it wasn’t realistic at all. The characters all fell super flat too, they were all just stereotypical characters with no substance and depth. The worst part of this novel was how random it was, the narration by Jean was all over the place, a lot of the time I struggled to keep up with what was going on as nothing was explained in a linear way.

Disappointed with Vox, it could have been the new Handmaid’s Tale with a more modern edge, however it ended up being boring, flat and rushed.

★☆☆☆

She Chose Me by Tracey Emerson

“Grace is a Sinner”

Grace has returned to London after twenty years teaching abroad to look after her ill Mother. However, when Grace starts receiving blank Mother’s Day cards and the feeling she is being watched, she realises that the past is catching up with her and she can’t keep running forever.

She Chose Me is a powerful thriller that keeps you guessing. The duel narrative wasn’t confusing even when we were unsure on who the second narrator was and all characters were engaging even though we, as the readers, weren’t meant to like all of them. It was easy to have empathy for all characters involved in the book and I could easily picture the scenes as I read them. Out of all the characters Cassie was the most interesting, Emerson really delved into her inner psych and explored why she acts the way she does. I thought I had the story sussed the whole way through the book but the last few chapters showcased an amazing twist that I didn’t see coming.

A story for all fans of Psychological Thrillers.

★★★☆

Just a Child: Britain’s Biggest Child Abuse Scandal Exposed by Sammy Woodhouse

“Most of us forget exactly how we felt as a child, and don’t understand how our developing minds worked, but unfortunately those who groom children do not. They are masters of getting inside a child’s head and finding out what make’s them tick, and they know exactly how to abuse that knowledge for their own gratification, stealing childhoods and wrecking lives as they go.

Sometimes the best books are written not by professional writers, but by those that have been through the ringer yet are determined to help themselves and others in the same situation.

Just a Child is the heartbreaking autobiography of Sammy Woodhouse, who from the age of 14 was groomed by a group of men in one of the UK’s biggest child exploitation cases. Sammy met Arshid Hussain, who was 10 years older than her, and instantly fell in love. What followed was decades of abuse at the hands of Arshid and his gang, who ran one of the biggest child sex trafficking rings in the country, all under the nose of the authorities who were meant to protect her.

Books about those subject matter are always going to be hard to read and digest. Although Sammy isn’t a professional writer, her account of this ordeal is written so well and really draws you in. This book is very educating and showcases the life long question of “why do they stay with their abuser?”. There is moments that are unbearable to read and you will want to scream “Get out of there!” at young Sammy. However, you see through the story how one brave woman stood up to the abusers and the authorities and changed the law, and saved many young lives in the process.

A hard read, but one that should be read by all, I would honestly campaign for this book to be used in schools to educate children on the signs of exploitation and domestic abuse.

★★★★

Educated by Tara Westover

“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.”

I’m really digging biographies this quarter, I’ve read 3 already!

Educated follows the life of Tara Westover who was brought up in a Survivalist, Mormon family in rural Idaho. She didn’t have a birth certificate, go to school or get to participate in normal childhood activities. Instead her father insisted on preparing for the end of days – spending days canning foods, scrapping, hording armed weapons and making escape plans. By the age of 16, Tara was craving an escape from her radical Father and abuse Brother, so she finally decided to go to school and have an education.

I always find books about religious extremism very interesting, mostly because I’m not at all religious, and Educated was no exception. Told over many years, Tara has a captivating way of telling her story and no stone was un-turned in re-telling her memories. Although, some parts of the story seemed a little far-fetched, even for a biography about survivalists – either Tara was very lucky in her quest for an education or she left a lot of details out of the book.

Despite this, Educated was an interesting read about a community that doesn’t receive a lot of attention and a girl who was willing to risk it all for a chance in education.

★★☆☆

Down Among The Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Assistant by Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams is your average young woman, however her career choice is a little unusual.. she is a mortuary technician.

Down Among The Dead men follows Michelle as she navigates the fascinating world underneath most hospitals. We get a glimpse of all the interesting characters that make up the staff: the cooky pathologists, caring undertakers and the technicians themselves. The stories that unfold from the dead that come into the Mortuary are shocking, some so ridiculous you wouldn’t have thought it could happen and other’s so sad and heartbreaking.

This biography was interesting, telling and educating.. before this novel I had no idea how a mortuary worked. The only let down was that Michelle had a habit of adding a lot of details about her life outside of work, which wasn’t always that interesting.

An interesting book to pick up for one of the most underrated parts of life and death.

★★☆☆

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

“Sometimes things happen and you have no way of understanding them. You try to find a reason to justify it, but there isn’t always an answer. It’s just life”

After reading a few Biographies I jumped back on to the thriller train, The Other Woman was a great book to get me re-introduced to the genre.

The Other Woman follows Emily who meets the man her dreams, Adam. Her new whirlwind romance seems like the start of a wonderful new chapter, however lurking in the shadows is Adam’s obsessive mother Pammie, vying with Emily for every bit of Adam’s attention… but how far will Pammie go to have Adam all to herself?

This book sucked me right in, I was hooked from the first page. I found Emily to be a very real character, I empathised with her immensely. Emily’s friends and family were all interesting characters with their own quirks, but Adam and his family were something else. Pammie was the epitome of the ‘evil mother in law’, very manipulative and always had a trick up her sleeve. Adam was a very interesting character, he wasn’t the typical ‘prince charming’ and had a very dark side to him.

All fans of thrillers should pick up this book, it was immersive, emotional and had a great twist at the end.

★★★☆

The Holiday by T.M Logan

“No one thought anything of it if you had your phone out – because everyone did. Everyone was doing it, all the time, so no one thought it out of the ordinary. And that meant you could take pictures of literally anything. Anything at all.”

Wow this novel really kept me guessing!  The Holiday follows a group of four woman, friends from their college days, as they travel to France on a vacation with their families. Kate finds texts on her husbands phone from another woman using a fake name.. however one of the woman is one of Kate’s four best friends. Kate uses the week away to uncover her Husband’s secret affair but someone else is trying to hide their secret.. even if they take it to their grave.

The Holiday is a book I wasn’t really looking forward to reading but I’m glad I gave it a go as it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. One minute I thought I had it sussed then the next moment I changed my mind. All the characters were unique and had their own personal dramas which linked to the other characters issues.. T.M Logan thoroughly mapped out this book. However, don’t read this book expecting to like any of the characters, they were all horribly flawed but this made them very life like.

For fans of thrillers that keep you guessing!

★★★☆

Other Books Read but Not Reviewed:

• Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
• What Red Was by Sophie Price
• This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay (2nd time reading)
• Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

Books I Did Not Finish:

• Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E Thomas – Book was boring and the narrator wasn’t at all likeable or approachable

Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge read so far: 38

xox

Where has the time gone?! I'm already on the third part of this year's Quarterly Book Reviews, this quarter I will be reviewing books from July - September. This month has been full of biographies, I re-read This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay which I reviewed last year and found some brilliant thrillers…

A Geeky Trip to New York City

I write this now sat at my desk with a lovely dose of post-holiday flu and the need to jump on a plane and go back to New York City. New York was crazy, it really is the city that never sleeps, with it’s illuminating lights and whirring noises. This city is everything you’ll need and more – it has amazing history, beautiful architecture, interesting residents, lots to see and do and amazing shops.

I was in New York from the 1st September to 6th, flew from Heathrow Terminal 5 around 9.30am (UK time) and landed in JFK around 11.30am (east coast USA time). 5 hours difference doesn’t seem like a lot, until you basically go back in time and end up having a 19 hour day because of it. We were lucky enough to jump straight off the plane, into the customs and immigration queue and in a taxi all in about 25 minutes. One word of warning though.. the customs/immigration people are SCARY. I read that they grill you to and inch of your life because they are trying to catch people out who are trying to get in the country of illegal reasons.. however, it’s a bit overwhelming for normal people who aren’t used to such formal and slightly unnerving regulations. We were picked up just outside the terminal from the taxi rank, we had a very chatty driver from the Bronx who made us totally at ease and were dropped off right outside our hotel in Times Square – The Marriott Marquis Hotel. FYI, don’t let the taxis overcharge you, there should be a set fair of around $54 plus tip!

I’ve never been inside a three star hotel let alone a nearly five star one, the Marriott Marquis was absolutely beautiful with it’s marble floor lobby, glass elevators and views of Times Square. If you want to have a more Gossip Girl-esque trip I seriously suggest staying here, although it isn’t cheap, room service of a pizza and a coffee cost us over $30 (it was amazing pizza though)! Although the hotel has over 40 floors (the lobby is on floor 8 by the way), the lifts were so efficient and were super speedy, it actually gave me slight motion sickness as they were so fast. Staff are very helpful, they put up with all my dumb questions after all, the rooms were cleaned every day to a great standard and the drinks were amazing at the bar.

First stop was Times Square as the hotel was right in the middle of all the screens and lights, we didn’t plan this very well as it was Labour Day Weekend plus Brazil Day so Midtown was super busy. We (very slowly due to all the crowds) made our way to the Rockefeller Plaza which houses a bunch of fun shops plus the Rockefeller Center. Our first stop was the Nintendo Store which I was SUPER excited about, the store wasn’t as big as I thought but was spread out over two floors, with Mario and genera; Nintendo merchandise downstairs and Pokemon, The Legend of Zelda and other games upstairs. Upstairs was my favourite as stood right in the centre is my boy Link in all of his glory, with his master sword located in glass behind him – a slightly besotted photo shoot between me and him began then I made my way over to the left side of the store which is the Pokemon Center. The Pokemon Center was tiny compared to the stores in Japan but it was full of cute plushies and other Pokemon merchandise, I ended up picking up an Eeevee, Espeon and Umbreon, I would have bought a Slyveon too but they didn’t seem to put that one on show that day. After half an hour of gawking and fighting the Nintendo crowds we popped on over to the Rockefeller Center as we had tickets booked, by this point I was so tired and was not feeling shooting up 90 odd floors to oversee New York but I’m so glad I pushed through the sleepiness.

The Rockefeller Center was way more amazing than I thought it would be, same with the Empire State Building, I thought it would just be a giant lift and a view top roof, but it was so much more. There was a tonne of information about the planning and building of the Rockefeller, plus a photo op with the famous photo of the group of builders sitting on the steel block in midair. I was least looking forward to the lift, I hate heights and I get motion sickness but there was an animation displayed on the ceiling of the lift which you could watch as you go up the floors which distracted me so I wasn’t floor counting. The views on top of the Rockefeller was worth the sleep exhaustion though, it was absolutely beautiful up there. There is perfect views of Central Park, The Empire State Building and all the Boroughs. I was beyond tired after this, so we headed back to the hotel and got pizza room service and watched Gossip Girl.

The next day was our longest one yet, I ended up waking up at 4am (NY time, damn you jet lag!) so I had plenty of time to get ready, have Gluten Free banana pancakes in the hotel restaurant and slowly walk and explore our way to The Empire State Building. Similar to The Rockefeller Center, The Empire State Building had a lot of interesting things to read and do on the way to the lift. There was in depth detail about how the building was made, how long it took (only 13 months!) and pictures of celebrities who have visited the building – including The Simpsons and Berry the Strawberry from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The King Kong exhibit was the best, there was a photo opportunity where you could take a picture with an interactive King Kong which looks like he’s smashed his hands through the building and peering in. Considering the observatory is over 100 floors up, the lift ride only took around 20 seconds with an interactive ceiling too. The views over New York were incredible up there, with clear views of Manhattan plus it’s surrounding Boroughs, it is also the best place to view the One World Trade Centre in all it’s tall glory. The weather took a turn for the worse so to avoid the rain we walked over to 34th St to do a touch of shopping, we checked out Macy’s which was HUGE, went to Target, Sephora and Uniqlo. Although cloudy the rain decided to hold off for a moment so we headed over to Grand Central Station as it was on my list of Gossip Girl locations to check out. I wish we spent more time there as it is one of the most beautiful train stations I’ve ever seen, it has gold and marble interior and a beautiful star constellation on the ceiling. I wanted to get food here but it was super busy due to it being Labour Day, so we popped over the road to Bravo Pizza which serves the tastiest, biggest, slices of pizza I have ever seen – I will forever crave those pizzas. I’m a  huge fan of Halloween so we trecked over to Spirit Halloween which was on W 25th St and I bought way too much merchandise as I was so excited about the store. I’m from England, Halloween is pants over here, I wish we did it like America does. I finally managed to get my hands on the Lock, Shock and Barrel masks from The Nightmare Before Christmas too! Then began our epic voyage back to the hotel in the pouring rain, New York weather is just as un-predictable as English weather! We also did over 25,000 steps this day.

The next day was my favourite, the rain storm dispersed as quick as it came and we were left with brilliant weather. We started our day in Juniors in Times Square as they are famous for their breakfasts. It was delicious and the waiters were lovely, but it was far too much food and I felt very full for the rest of the morning. As the weather was so gorgeous we walked straight up 7th Ave to Central Park, which did not disappoint. A lot of Manhattan is grimmer then what it seems on TV but not Central Park, it was a literal breath of fresh air after being in busy Midtown for 3 days. We walked the whole way around the park starting with the east side, we saw the Bow Bridge which is featured in the film Uptown Girls, had pictures taken next to Bethesda Building and saw the beautiful Loeb Boathouse. As I’m a huge Gossip Girl fan we stepped out of Central Park to go see the MET (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) on the Upper East Side, I got my ‘sitting on the MET like Blair Waldorf’ picture and off we went back in to Central Park to walk around the Great Lawn and down to see Belvedere Castle. This is castle is a small gothic building built on the highest point of the park, it’s free to explore and has great views of the park and city landscape from the top. It’s also right next to the Turtle Pond which is literally the home of a dozen or so turtles basking in the New York sunshine. Our final stop was the Strawberry Fields John Lennon Memorial, it was pretty busy so we didn’t stay long, but we got to see the Imagine mosaic dedicated to him. Central Park was way bigger than I anticipated so we didn’t get to do everything but I’d love to go back one day in Spring or Autumn and explore more.

As the sun was shining we got a taxi over to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum as it is really open so you can see most of the exhibitions in the sunshine. The museum over looked The Hudson River and the New Jersey cityscape which looked so beautiful in the glistening sun. This museum holds the USS Intrepid – an aircraft carrier, USS Growler – a submarine and the Enterprise Space Shuttle, it’s not often you can say you’ve seen a space shuttle up close! Our final stop for the day was the Chelsea Market which is an indoor market in West of New York. Chelsea Market is a much cleaner, posher version of Camden Market, there is loads of fresh produce stores, book shops, many eateries and an Asian market inside where I found many anime items. For dinner in the evening we stopped at Bond 45 in Times Square, it is a beautiful Italian restaurant with a NFSW theme, you walk inside and the first thing you see is a bent over bum with the words ‘rub me for luck’ written on it. The food was amazing I had the homemade tordelli ravioli bolognese, a glass of Pinot and the best NY Cheesecake I’ve ever eaten. They also came around with free, straight out of the oven chocolate chip cookies! The only downside was that it was so expensive, I honestly nearly fell over when the bill came.

We got up early on the Thursday, popped over the road to McDonald’s to grab a Southern Fried Chicken McGriddle (honestly, these were my favourite food item from the whole trip!) and grabbed a taxi to the 9/11 Memorial. The taxi went all the way along the coast so we got to see both the Manhattan Bride and Brooklyn Bridge. The memorial was absolutely beautiful, the whole area was spotless and very serene. The North pool where the North Tower once stood was our first stop and was right in front of the Oculus Building, it was a very sombre moment reading the names of everyone on the plagues. I was unsure at first if I wanted to enter the actual 9/11 museum but I’m so glad I did, it was so very sad and I cried the the whole way round but it was good to remember the lives of those from the tragedy.

As it was a beautiful day we walked down to Battery Park and hopped on their Statue of Liberty cruise, we bought the tickets online for cheaper 5 minutes before boarding. We booked the express cruise which was 1 hour and 30 mins, the boat went all along the Hudson River stopping at Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty then went past Staten Island, Brooklyn, under the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. The boat stopped and turned around next to the Statue of Liberty so all sides of the boat could see the statue close up which I thought was really thoughtful of them, also there was a tour guide on board giving us loads of facts about New York – this boat ride was well worth the money and was one of my favourite things from this trip.

I was desperate to walk over Brooklyn Bridge and see a smidgen of Brooklyn so that’s what we did next. We walked the weird way round so it took a lot longer than expected but we saw some amazing art, graffiti and the memorial for the Firefighters Precinct that helped in the 9/11 attacks. Brooklyn Bridge was a lot shorter than I thought it would be, it only took around 15 – 20 mins to walk across but the sights were beautiful and it’s always nice to be next to (or on top!) of the ocean. I wanted to explore more of Brooklyn but unfortunately we only had time for DUMBO, Main Street Park and Empire Fulton Ferry Park, but these sites had amazing views of Manhattan and the bridges.

Friday was a chilled out shopping day as it was the day we were to leave, first stop was Image Anime as the store had amazing reviews online. Image Anime is located on 28 West 37th Street, it looks like a little shop from the outside but as you walk in it is full to the brim with all the anime merch you could ever need. I could have walked out with $1000 worth of stuff easily but as I was low on funds and suitcase space, I opted for a Nendroid of Atsuko Kagari from Little Witch Academia. Next stop was GameStop/ThinkGeek on Broadway where I picked up Spyro Reignited Trilogy and a Funko Pop Vinyl of the Witch from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

New York City has been on my bucket list for years, it was amazing to finally experience a part of America that has always fascinated me. What I go back? Hell yeah. Now I’ve done all the touristy things I would love to go back and explore the different parts of the city: venture down more into Brooklyn, see more of Queens, go to Staten Island and even explore more of Central Park. NYC was great but I’m glad to be home for now, although I’m already planning my next trip.. stay tuned.

xox

I write this now sat at my desk with a lovely dose of post-holiday flu and the need to jump on a plane and go back to New York City. New York was crazy, it really is the city that never sleeps, with it's illuminating lights and whirring noises. This city is everything you'll need…

Monthly Favourites! September 2019

It’s finally Autumn and the leaves are starting to fall. The first half of September was taken up by travelling and recovering from travelling, however coming home has made me so excited for Halloween and Christmas time! Also I’ve found a new app on my phone which will help me with my featured images so they will all be updated soon for the past months 🙂

Once Upon A Time:

This series first came out in 2011 and follows Emma Swan as she is reintroduced to the son she gave up a decade prior. He is convinced the town he lives in (Storybrooke, Maine) is full of inhabitants from Fairy-Tales including Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Prince Charming, Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen. Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke to get closer to her long-lost son and she might even realise her true destiny.

I love this show, it’s a mix of all the fairytales we grew up reading with a modern day twist. This show is also filled to the brim with strong female characters, all of which have interesting background stories and are willing to fight for the greater good of their town.

New York City:

I’ve already wrote a post about my trip to NYC (which will be posted soon) so this will be brief. New York City was everything I expected and more.. it was full of lights/colour, busy and never dull. But NYC is so much more than that, once you venture outside Midtown, the city transforms in to a beautiful metropolis with tonnes history, beautiful architecture and interesting inhabitants. I advise everyone to check out NYC at least once in their lifetime.. what a city!

 

Code Geass:

I can’t begin to explain how much I love this anime, this is the 4th or 5th time re-watching it and I am still obsessed!

Code Geass starts after The Holy Empire of Britannia conquers the country of Japan and renames it Area 11, it’s original inhabitants are stripped of their rights and are now called ‘Elevens’. Lelouch Vi Britannia and his sister are sent to Area 11 as political pawns after their mother is brutally murdered.. Lelouch vows to destroy Britannia one day. Seven years later Lelouch is accidentally involved in a terrorist attack and meets a mysterious girl with extraordinary powers who saves his life by bestowing the power to command anyone he pleases. With this new found power Lelouch orchestrates a rival to Britannia and tries to change the world into somewhere safe for his sister.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Switch):

I have been patiently waiting for a remaster of the first three Spyro games (originally on Playstation 1) since they announced the remasters of Crash Bandicoot. My prays to the Gaming God’s were answered while in New York so I rushed to the local GameStop and snapped it up quick.

The reignited trilogy is a remaster of the first three Spyro games, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Playing all three games is highly nostalgic and the graphics look amazing on the Switch, so bright and colourful.

Halloween Prepping:

Spooky season is almost upon us and I am so darn excited! As we have our own place now we are hosting a Halloween party and I’ve already started getting items ready for it. I bought Lock, Shock and Barrel masks while in New York so my costume is sorted as Barrel wears a skeleton top which I already own, I also won a Caft Pros face and bodypaint pallet so drawing his signature, creepy smile will be easy now. I’ve also been Halloween Bargain hunting and have picked up cheap Halloween themed cookie cutters form Wish, a cauldron to fit lots of sweets and goodies in, pumpkin and skeleton light holders and a pumpkin cake tin. Going to be hunting for more Halloween on a budget items this month, might do a post next month to show you all.

Blue Exorcist:

Blue Exorcist is an anime that I didn’t hear much about until it came onto Netflix but I’m so glad I gave it a shot. The show revolves around Rin Okumura who, with his twin brother Yukio, find out they are the sons of Satan with Rin (being the older twin) gaining some of Satan’s powers. While trying to protect his adoptive father, Shiro Fujimoto, Rin manages to draw the demon slaying sword, Kurikara, which restrains his demon-powers. Determined to learn how to become and exorcist and defeat his true father, Rin enrolls in True Cross Academy, an exorcist cram school, that his brother is already a teacher at.

The more episodes we get through the more I am hooked on Blue Exorcist. The characters all have so much depth and great backstories, the animation styles blend well together and the animators have added the so many details to make the characters and the locations feel so real.

Catch,ya next month!

xox

It's finally Autumn and the leaves are starting to fall. The first half of September was taken up by travelling and recovering from travelling, however coming home has made me so excited for Halloween and Christmas time! Also I've found a new app on my phone which will help me with my featured images so…

Monthly Favourites! August 2019

It’s the end of Summer and thing’s are starting to cool down, I’m going to New York at the beginning of September so August was a month to chill out month catching up with loved ones and watching a lot of animated TV shows:

Fate/Stay Night: Ultimate Blade Works:

Ultimate Blade Works is the anime series based on the visual novel Fate/Stay Night, it’s also the sequel to Fate/Zero. The series follows Shirou Emiya, a high school student and amateur mage living in Fuyuki City, Japan, is dragged into the Fifth Holy Grail War, a secret magical tournament. The Holy Grail Wars are when seven mages called ‘Masters’ summon a ‘Servent’, a re-incarnated personification of legendary heroes of history, to compete in winning the war to get granted a wish/desire from the Holy Grail. I personally really like this series, it’s quite a short series so there is limited filler episodes, the characters all all very interesting and have complicated personalities, and it’s fun to guess which servant is which legendary hero.

D&D (Dungeons & Dragons):

I’ve been interested in playing D&D for years, a game which focuses on fantasy and imagination is right up my street. We gave it a good go at the end of last year, but unfortunately we couldn’t get a group together that could play regularly. Luckily, my friend from aerial and her partner are regular D&D players and also run their own sessions, so me and my partner have been heading over to theirs bi-monthly to play and eat pizza.

My first character was a Witch called Ophelia, but as a Witch isn’t a proper class, it was very hard to give her the correct stats and magic elements. On our next game we made the characters from scratch using official races and classes, I tried out a Tiefling called Kallista (or Kali for short – inspired by the Indian Goddess of Death) and honestly think it’s one of my favourites and a character I will definitely be using again!

Holiday Planning:

On my birthday in February, my Dad and I planned our trip to New York for September. Time flew and most of August was spent organising the trip and researching places to visit. I’ll do a post about New York or it will be in my next Monthly Favourites for anyone interested! I used a lot of blogs like Hannah Gale and the Gluten Free Blogger to research New York and also used Trip Adviser and good ol’ Google Maps a lot. Travelling for Geeks was a great website to find Geeky places to visit, it includes comic book shops, anime stores and iconic places to see from shows and movies.

Daria:

Daria follows the life of Daria Morgendorffer, a smart and often misanthropic teenager. The show is set in a typical but fictional Suburban town that fuels a lot of Daria, and her best friend Jane Lane’s, sardonic cynicism. Daria is full of satire of high school life and suburban life, it also criticises popular culture and social classes.

I wish I watched it way before now as it was first broadcast in 1997. The animation is a little janky as it is over 20 years old but honestly, the themes really hold up to modern day. The show is simple, low key funny and relatable.. and the theme song sung by Splendora is an anthem.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Madoka Magica for short):

Madoka Magica isn’t your average, lighthearted, magical girl anime. It’s central themes are very dark, consisting of loss, grief, depression, loneliness and anguish.

The series originally aired in 2011 and follows Madoka Kaname, a middle schooler who gets caught up in the Magical Girl’s fight against ‘Witches’ (dark beings born from despair that are responsible for accidents, disease and suicide). Madoka and her friend Sayaka run into a cat-like creature named Kyubey, who offers them a contract to being a magical girl and also get a wish of their choosing granted. However, a mysterious exchange student soon arrives at Madoka and Sayaka’s school called Homura who tries everything in her power to stop Madoka making a contract with Kyubey.

This is the second time I’ve watched this series and it is just as heartbreaking and gut wrenching as the first. The cute character design of all the characters mixed with the erratic art style of the Witches is iconic, there is so many hidden gems throughout the fight scenes too.

Catch ‘ya next month!

xox

 

It's the end of Summer and thing's are starting to cool down, I'm going to New York at the beginning of September so August was a month to chill out month catching up with loved ones and watching a lot of animated TV shows: Fate/Stay Night: Ultimate Blade Works: Ultimate Blade Works is the anime…

Monthly Favourites! July 2019

It’s the middle of Summer and England has been some of the best weather we’ve ever had. I’ve finally got out of my funk and I’m ready to take the world on again!

Gamecube:

Out of all the consoles I’ve ever owned, I think the Gamecube is one of my favourites. Now I’ve moved out and have free reign of the TV I can game whenever I want to so the other week I dusted off the Gamecube and played Super Mario Sunshine and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. For a console that came out in 2002 (for UK anyway), the Gamecube has great graphics and the wide selection of games makes it a console for everyone.

Weymouth, UK:

Around a 45 minute drive from my town is Weymouth, it’s a seaside town in the South of the UK which has beautiful beaches, a harbour and a Sea Life Centre full of sharks, turtles and other exotic sea life. I try to venture down to Weymouth every Summer as I absolutely love it down there. If you ever come to the South of UK, please check this sea side town out!

Family Time:

Since moving out I’ve seen how important it is to have family time. My grandparents are getting older now, although I still see them as the energetic 50 year olds they were when I was little, and my relationship with my Mum has been great since I moved out. I booked a week off at the end of July to spend time with my family, I saw Lion King with my mum, went out for dinner with my Grandparents and went to the beach with them too, it was a great bonding experience and it’s made me realise how lucky I am to have them all in my life.

 

 

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask:

Since we’ve been together, me and Dan have been working our way (very slowly) through the Legend of Zelda series. We completed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess a while back and we sort of gave up on Skyward Sword as we weren’t enjoying it has much as it’s predecessors. To get back in to the Zelda groove, we started playing Majora’s Mask on my Gamecube. I haven’t played this title since I was super young, and even then I just watched my Dad play it, I’m surprised it didn’t give me nightmares back then. Majora’s Mask follows Link a few months after the ending to Ocarina of Time. Link is out in the woods search for Navi, when a Skull Kid steals both Epona and Link’s ocarina and then puts a curse on Link. Link then find himself in a parallel Hyrule, called Termina where, in 72 hours, the Moon will fall on to the Kingdom. Majora’s Mask is definitely the most errie of the Zelda titles but this just adds to it’s appeal. The 3 day time limit is a bit frustrating as I’m a bit crap at finding my way around so I easily loose 3 days. It’s a great game though, with really interesting characters and I great story.

Night Out with Friends:

Since I was a bit of a hermit the last couple of months, it’s been great to get out for the night, have some cocktails and hang out with my friends. We ended up going to two bars, one of them serves the most amazing cocktails (and for cheap too!) and then we went to our local rock bar at like 1am to finish the night off. However we did end the night on greasy chips and burgers at the local burger bar at 3am, felt like I was 18 again.

Detective Pikachu:

I really discredited this movie without even bothering to see it. As soon as the trailer came out I was on the bashing hate train, I thought the Pokemon looked gross and thought they could have used a better source material other than the Detective Pikachu game. Well.. I was wrong, so very very wrong. Detective Pikachu follows 21 years old Tim who teams up with his Father’s Pikachu to uncover the mystery of his father’s disappearance. Ryan Reynolds does an amazing job voicing Pikachu, Justice Smith, who plays Tim, Kathryn Newton, who plays Lucy, and Lucy’s Psyduck have great acting chemistry and the story was actually very interesting. Would watch again!

Catch ‘ya next month!

xox

It's the middle of Summer and England has been some of the best weather we've ever had. I've finally got out of my funk and I'm ready to take the world on again! Gamecube: Out of all the consoles I've ever owned, I think the Gamecube is one of my favourites. Now I've moved out…