Month: October 2018

Recent Reads: Scottish History by John Abernethy

Posted on by Pam
My review: ????

Scottish History is published by Collins as a Little Book, and so you won’t be surprised to learn that this gives you a brief run through Scottish history, from ancient to very recent.

It gives you some lovely titbits of information, such as Dunedin being the ancient name for Edinburgh.

If you would like a short introduction to Scottish history, it’s implications in politics, and how it is tied in to English, Irish and British history, then this is the book for you!
Scottish History by John Abernethy is out now, and available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Collins Reference (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile for more reviews.

Recent Reads: The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley (The Seven Sisters 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

The Seven Sisters introduces use to Maia and her five other sisters and their billionaire adopted father, Pa Salt.
 
They were named after the Seven Sisters stars, and they (like us) expected there to be a seventh sister, but I think that is one of the mysteries in this book, along with who Pa Salt was to jet around the world and adopt all of these girls, and then take them to his home in Switzerland, to his house called Atlantis.
 
The Seven Sisters is the start of what I think of as family saga.  We’re going to be looking in depth at each of the sisters, with a book per sister.  This first book belongs to Maia, the eldest, where we join her just as she learns of Pa Salt’s death, who leaves her, and the other sisters, clues to their biological family, and how learning about her great grandmother helps Maia understand herself.
 
I haven’t read any of the other books yet, and I would like to, and whilst I am a bit worried that these will be formulaic, at the same time, I really enjoyed this story, so I will read the next one (The Storm Sister), and see how that is!  
 
The reason I read The Seven Sisters is because the fifth book in the series, The Moon Sister, is being published on 1st November, and I was interested enough in how that looked to want to read from the beginning (that’s how I roll! Book series, podcasts, tv shows, all are consumed from the beginning!).
 
If you’d like to be whisked away to exotic locations, then I think this book series is going to be for you, as each of the sisters are very different, and live in different parts of the world!

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Rile

y is available now in all good book shops and libraries, but here’s a

link for Amazon

in case that’s how you best buy books!

The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley

 is due to be published on 1st November 2018.  

Here’s the pre-order link from Amazon!

 
I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan (the publishers) for this book.
 
Check out my 

GoodReads profile

 for more reviews.

Splendette bangles

Posted on by Pam

















My clothing style has changed on the last couple of years, and I have gone away from wearing jeans with a geeky t-shirt, and have moved on to wearing pretty dresses in 1950s style. I’ve found that they make me feel more confident and pretty.

Became this style isn’t what you would find in the shops, and isn’t the typical style that you see celebrities wearing (obviously excepting Dita von Teese), and so I started to find women on Instagram who dress in this same vintage style way, with Miss Victory Violet being one. She wears amazing dresses (that suit her amazingly small waist), has her hair in the 1950s style, make up, nails and jewellery!


And jewellery is what I wanted to tell you about today! Bangles in fact!

I have quite large hands, and so normal bangles have always been a struggle to get on.  Some fit, others just wouldn’t, and so it’s one of those things that I have accepted, that bangles aren’t a thing I can wear.  That was until I discovered Splendette, who do larger sized bangles, that they term ‘Duchess‘.  They also do standard sized, and small, with the small size being called ‘Maiden‘.  The names really appeal to me!

The standard size has the most options, and the Duchess and Maiden have some of what I would guess are the most popular!

I really like the glitter ones as the one I have is green but has some golden sparkles, some that almost look blue, and lots of green!  It is really lovely!



The white one is carved, and I found I wore it a lot in the summer, and last but not least is the flower one, which is lovely and delicate looking. And yes, I have lots of freckles!

I’m afraid none of these are currently available on the Splendette website, but that is because there is a new collection being released on Friday!
I tried on the bangles today in order to take these photos, and discovered that they’re now a bit too big for me, and that the one standard bangle I had bought in the sale, to check the size, can now fit on my right hand.  This is both great news, and awful news.  Awful because it means that the lovely ones I have currently slip off, and great because I get to go shopping for new ones!

So, yes, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and do a little shopping!

Brush Lettering workshop with Little Old Goose

Posted on by Pam
I’m left handed, and have always struggled with my handwriting.  I am always interested in new ways that will make me write in a clearer way, and so when I saw the Brush Lettering workshop with Lucy of Little Old Goose in Southsea, I decided to go along and have a try!

                               
The above photo is from Little Old Goose’s Instagram story.

There was a guide sheet on how to make the shapes, a sheet with the alphabet in plain, cursive, and capital letters, and of course, Lucy herself to help with some of the harder letters (e, p and q are surprisingly hard!).


              

I am, however, very pleased with my S’s! 

              

This is the quote I was working on, and by working on, I mean the placement of the words, and all of my letter shapes.

If you’re interested in trying something different, then I would suggest brush lettering!  It was really good, and might be good for making your own cards, bullet journalling, or anything else you can think of!

Recent Reads: The Strange Casebook by Syd Moore

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????


The Strange Casebook is an enjoyable collection of six paranormal and fantastical short stories, with the stories all short enough to read one in a sitting quite easily.

This is from the same world as the Essex Witch Museum Mystery series, none of which I’ve read, but I could still like the short stories, although I’m sure I will have missed the background of the characters in the stories, so if you have read the series, I’m sure you’ll really get a kick out of them.

The Strange Casebook by Syd Moore is due to be published on 31st October, which is very appropriate, as these are quite spooky!  Here’s the pre-order link from Amazon!
I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and OneWorld Publications (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile for more reviews.

Recent Reads: The Lady In The Cellar by Sinclair McKay

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????


A true crime book that takes you to the late 19th century home in London where a body is discovered in the cellar, but whodunnit?

You get introduced to all of the people who lived there, and get glimpses into their lives, scandals and all.  You meet the victim, the suspects, and get taken to the courtrooms to hear the testimony through first hand accounts that are used throughout this book.  This gives a sense of immediacy, and a taste for how things really were, including prisons, and lunatic asylums.

I read a lot of murder mystery books, as my shelves on GoodReads will show you, and this was an entertaining read as it kept you guessing as to who the murderer actually was, and what the motive was.

The Lady In The Cellar by Sinclair McKay is out now in hardback.  It is available in a giveaway on GoodReads!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile for more reviews.

Recent Reads: Ragnarok Unwound by Kristin Jacques

Posted on by Pam



I recently joined NetGalley, where you can receive books for free if you review them, which  sounds like heaven to me!  This is the first book that I’ve received, I read it pretty quickly, and so here is my review!


On the day of her 18th birthday, Ikepela Ives gained the power to unwind the fates of gods, goddesses, and other demi beings, and lost the woman who could have taught her how to use the power, her mother. It’s been three years since then, and she has only used her powers once since then, and resisted every other attempt to get her to use them.
But now, Ragnarok has begun, and Ives is called on to help stop it.  And so begins a mission to save the world, with Ives gaining allies as she goes.
This was an enjoyable fantasy story, with good pacing throughout the book, a good plot, with twists and turns, and Norse mythology liberally sprinkled throughout, and I do enjoy mythology!

I’ve given this book 4 out of 5 stars for it’s readability, and how it draws you in (I read this in a day).  

Ragnarok Unwound is due to be published on 8th January 2019, and I would really recommend you have a read!
If you’d like to read more of my reviews, you can either have a look at the label of Book Reviews on here, or look at my GoodReads profile!