Post Camping Blues.

I am missing camping sooo much! It was a perfect weekend and one of my favourite things was going to sleep staring at the stars out of the back window, life doesn't really get much better than that for me. I am still impressed with how cosy Doris is inside, when the bed is made up in the back it is my version of heaven! 

Hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend and managed to soak up a bit of that much needed sun. We have another camping trip planned in a couple of weeks and I am super excited <3

Much Love
xkx

Audio Book Review - From A to Bee by James Dearsley

This is one of the latest books I have just finished on Audible. It was Audible's pick of week a little while ago and it caught my eye. A few years ago I went to Acton Scott historic working farm and they had a couple of guys there talking about bees and beekeeping. I was just amazed and intriged at by it all, but didn't really think anything more of it until I saw this book.

I gave this book 4 stars out or 5 because it is so entertaining as well as being a fountain of bee keeping information. I learnt so much from this book and it has really ignited my passion for keeping bees. The book is written in diary form and follows James on his unfolding adventure on keeping bees and getting one jar of honey before the year is out. It gets so exciting towards the end as it is not certain whether he will achieve his goal or not! I would recommend this book to everyone, even if you don't know that you are interested in bees! Because it is a lovely, entertaining, enlightening read that will not only keep you amused for hours but it will also gives you loads of random facts about bees to impress all your friends. I feel a bit sorry for Ed who has had to listen to it all over the past couple of weeks hehe. 

Have a good rest of the evening.     

Audio Book Review - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Well I have to say that I have had a super lucky audio book month this month! Both books I downloaded I have given 5 stars. I had seen this book reviewed on a couple of blogs I had meandered on a few weeks ago. So when I had my last credit of the month to spend I saw I had scribbled the title of this on my notepad and went for it. And oh my, am I pleased I did! 

I have a kind of quirky little belief that sometimes a book that finds you when you most need it and this little book found me when I most needed it. This is a really beautiful book, the characters are like flowers that bloom and wilt in front of your very eyes. It is bold and John Green is not afraid to be honest about the challenging topics of teen cancer, but he entwines this with a heart wrenching love story that would make Shakespeare envious. The plot is quite pacey, which I really enjoyed, but also dripping with meaning and thought provoking gifts. 

I could not recommend this book highly enough, it is just beautiful and enlightening and even though it was written for the young adult audience I think that it has something for everyone. I really wish that I could listen to this book for a first time all over again.   

Book Review - The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar.

I picked up this book in a wonderful little bookstore that stocked an eclectic mix of sic-fi, fantasy and graphic novels in Edinburgh. it was up a little cobbled street and the book shop owner was very quiet and book-wormish, I am a confessed bibliophile so I rationed myself to just one book! After a couple of laps around this little shop this caught my eye. I love anything to do with fairies and when I spied that the introduction was my Neil Gaiman my excitement grew. The deal was clinched when I read on the back that "It is a book for every girl with home-dyed hair and fairy wings...". Well for anyone who doesn't know I have fairy wings tattooed on my back and well this may be a shock but I am not a natural red head.

I picked up this book this morning and didn't put it down until I had finished it this afternoon. This book is a real gem, it characters are a mix of fairies and humans that are loveably flawed. The book is set in New York to a backdrop of run down apartments and the main human characters trying to make ends meet. I loved the juxtaposition of the grimy surroundings and the touching goodness of the fairies, even though the kindness is very well hidden at times under lashings of whiskey and bad language. I really enjoyed the hint of dark smut that was sprinkled throughout the pages as well as it gave it a real delicious edge. 

I am going to give this book 4 stars out of 5. This is because I loved this book and I thought the little details that helped to thread the plot together were really well thought out. The Fairies of New York is a surprising book and at times I was left thinking that Martin Millar must have had help from the fairies to manage to entwine all of the characters and events together in such a satisfying and diverse way. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because, even though I enjoyed all the characters and their relationships I didn't feel too sad to leave them behind, when I closed the last page of that book. But maybe that is down to Martin Millar tying everything up beautifully. So you'll just have to read it and decide for yourself.

Audio Book of the Month - The Somnambulist.

I had looked at the hard copy of this book a few times, especially after seeing it featured on telly on 'The TV Book Club'. But something always held me back from buying it. When my Audible credit came up and this book took my eye again I decided to take the plunge. And wow am I glad I did! And don't worry there are no spoilers in this review.  

The Somnambulist is a Victorian, Gothic mystery that sees the heroine, Phoebe Turner, navigate her way through a plot that has many deliciously satisfying twists and turns. The book is set in Victorian London and Hereford in Shropshire (which coincidently is near where I grew up). Both locations are so rich and the writer, Essie Fox, stimulates all the senses. My favourite example of this is how she uses a scent by Penhaligons, who have been London's finest perfumers since 1870, like glue to bond memories, people and events together. 

I loved listening to every second of this audio book! I undulated with the good times and the turbulent times that Phoebe went through and rooted for her the whole way through. The ending made me very content like I had just eaten a three course meal and had finished some lovely wine. I would recommend this book to anyone who is captured by the Victorian allure and enjoys a novel that keeps you pondering the whole way to the end. This book definitely deserves 5 out of 5 stars.