Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer in Go For Gold! #BEDM

As I’ve said before on here, I’m a fan of rose gold. I did a post in November showing some of my recent nail looks which included a lot of rose gold and soft pinks. I did a rose gold stamped nails for Valentine’s Day. So I was excited to see this new rose gold polish from Catrice! There’s a few ‘go to’ rose gold polish, like Orly’s Rage, Essie’s Penny Talk and Model’s Own in Chrome Rose, but it’s great to have a rose gold polish that’s more affordable!

I love the tone of this, how it’s more on the pinky side than the bronzey side. You do get brush strokes but that’s expected with a metallic polish. Go For Gold! should be on Catrice stands now.

April Reads Part 1: Graphic Novels & Short Stories #BEDM

Hello! Day One of Blog Every Day in May has the topic set to Tell Us Something New or Introduce Yourself. I don’t have much time to do that at the moment, but here’s the link to my 1st day of BEDM last year which was a similiar post. Some of it is out of date but it’s still generally the same! I need to do an About Me page for the blog, so maybe this will be the kick I need to do so.

Usually when I list what I’ve read during the past month, I list it in order I read it. But in April I read a lot of graphic novels and short stories, so I thought I’d have a post just for those and the next one for all the longer books I’ve read.

Paper Girls Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang and Matthew Wilson

Four 12 year old newspaper delivery girls team up early in the morning following Halloween when weird things start happening in the neighbourhood. I requested this on NetGalley after I saw Sanne from Books & Quills mention it. I really liked what she showed and it lived up to my expectations. The girls are kick ass, the colour scheme is beautiful and I loved the pace and story. It reminded me a bit of Lumberjanes. I’m looking forward to reading more of this when it comes out.

 

 

 

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

It’s no secret I’m a big Rainbow Rowell fan so I was excited to see there was a short story for World Book Day out (which I showed the other week in this book haul post). Kindred Spirits is about Elena, a MASSIVE Star Wars fan who decides to spend the week before the latest release queuing outside with all the other huge fans. But when she gets there she finds out there’s only two other people there. It was a cute story, worth reading if you’re a fan of Rainbow Rowell and YA but as it’s only a short story it’s not a must-read.

 

 

 

Jane, The Fox and Me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault

I picked up this book after seeing Mercy from Mercy’s Bookish Musings talking about it. Shy and lonely Hélène finds herself being bullied by the girls she thought were her friends. They taunt her about her weight and how much of a loser she is. Hélène starts to build these things and is very insecure. Her only comfort is reading Jane Eyre. I loved this, it was heartbreaking at times but it really resonated with me. I loved the art work, how Hélène’s parts are more greyed out and Jane’s parts are done with colour. There are spoilers for Jane Eye so if you haven’t read it and don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read this first! But it’s well worth picking up, it’s one of my fave graphic novels.

 

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Anya is a typical teenage, embarassed by her family, self conscious about her body, wanting to fit in at school and has a crush on a guy who just so happens to be dating the most popular girl in school. Just when she thinks life can’t get worse she falls down a well and meets a ghost! After leaving the well, this ghost stays with Anya, which has it’s perks at first but takes a turn for the creepy and weird. I liked this, I liked how there’s a lighter fun side to it but also a dangerous side too. Anya doesn’t experience much growth, which might have been a nice addition to the story. A quick fun read!

 

Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard

Cruel Crown contains two short story prequels from the Red Queen series. In Queen Song, we see Cal's mother Coriane as a 15 year old and how she met Cal's father, the still to be King Tiberias, and how they fell in love. In Steel Scars we see Captain Farley, her help in the rebellion and how she comes to meet Shade and Mare Barrow. It was fun to see more sides of the story and learn more about some of the characters we don't know much about in Red Queen. These are not essential to the plot but rather helps to round out views more. I preferred Queen Song but I still enjoyed seeing the overlap of Farley's missions with Mare and the Queenstrial. If you loved Red Queen and Glass Sword (I reviewed both here), then you'll enjoy reading these short stories.

 

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

 American Born Chinese has 3 stories running through it. The first is the centre to this story, Jin Wang, who finds himself the only Chinese-American student in his class when his family moves. He just wants to fit in, though he is bullied constantly. The second is the Monkey King, which is one of the oldest Chinese fable stories. The third is Danny, a popular high school kid who’s life is ruined every time his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee, the epitome of negative Chinese stereotypes, comes to stay. I enjoyed the stories as they were but when they all came together is was amazing! The themes of racism and acceptance are really well portrayed. I’ve heard good things about this author’s Boxer and Saints books too so I’m going to pick them up if I can.

 

Saga Volumes 1-5 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had heard of Saga before picking up Paper Girls, so after reading that I decided I should pick up Saga after all, as I have heard some pretty amazing things about it. When I got to the library Volumes 1-5 were in so I just got them all out! Where to start on this?! I can’t describe what this is about properly! The book opens with two characters, a couple, where the woman is giving birth. We quickly discover that these are two people from the opposite sides of war who fell in love and ran off together, eventually having this baby. It becomes pretty clear fast that people want them dead, especially when they hear about this baby. Set in space, it’s got elements of sci-fi and fantasy. It contains sex, bad language and violence, so if you’re not happy with any of those, give this a miss (or make sure you’re happy for younger readers to consume it). I saw someone somewhere describe it as a rock opera set in space and I think it fits! I love the story, the characters, the drawing style and look forward to continuing with the series!

That’s it for now, I’ll have the rest of April’s Reads up soon enough, all with my stats and breakdown of the month. It’s been a fun, interesting new month for me overall! I’m pleased I picked up these graphic novels and have more planned for the future.

This post continues digital advanced reading copies from NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post reviews and all opinions are my own.

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe Book Review

I always enjoy seeing Sara Pascoe on my TV screen. She's witty, interesting and rarely fails to make me laugh. So when I saw she was writing a book and a book on feminism no less I couldn't wait to read it. As a subtitle 'The Autobiography of the Female Body' really suits. This book looks at many different aspects for what it's like to be a woman. Sara looks at evolutionary and physiological reasons for things like monogamy, falling in love and breakups, sex, why our bodies have developed over the years and how our hormones affect us. Sara looks at these issues from a modern and social perspective too and peppers in her own experiences and anecdotes. This book doesn't shy away from issues either, covering things like rape, body image and eating disorders, female genital mutilation and a drawing of female genitals.

This book obviously covers serious issues but it is done with a humorous touch. Sara had me laughing out loud at times! Her anecdotes are hilarious and also so personal and private. Sara speaks about her abortion and while I couldn't say it's refreshing to hear someone famous talking about their own personal abortion experience (as refreshing just doesn't seem like the most suitable word), it is important for people to talk more openly about abortions so it isn't such a shameful taboo. After her procedure, Sara chats to the girl in the bed next to her, who is from Ireland and I ended up highlighting this sentence 'I hope the law in Ireland has changed by the time this book is published so it's me that seems outdated rather than their legal system'. Unfortunately it hasn't changed yet but hopefully with the Repeal the 8th Campaign we're on our way here in Ireland to better future for women.

Sara acknowledges that this book isn't perfect. In the opening chapter she says that she knows that what's she's writing 'is about the experience of growing up in a female body and with the physiology of a female body, and this excludes the experiences of many women'. She points out throughout the book with footnotes that a lot of what said is hetro and cis-centric. Feminism has a lot of intersectionality with things like race, sexuality and gender idenity and this book doesn't address a lot of this. But as Sara says she's 'not attempting to be the last word in a conversation' she just wants 'to be part of it'. And I think it's a solid addition to this conversation. It's made me think and I've highlighted so many passages in this book to revisit and reread. I think this book would be a great starting point for younger readers wanting to know more about feminism as the tone makes it easy to read and Sara makes it easy to connect with her as a narrator. But it's a good read for any age to pick up and I really recommend you do.

This post continues digital advanced reading copies from NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post reviews and all opinions are my own.

April Book Accquisitions

Hello!

Back in January I did my last book accquisitions post. I don’t want to call it a haul because in my mind a haul is done in one swoop (or one month) but these are picked up over time. And I can’t call this one recent book buys for reasons shown later on. Onwards to the books!

Going from top to bottom

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell- This is one of the short story books for World Book Day. It’s the only WBD book I got, mainly because I’m a Rainbow Rowell fan (you can see my post on meeting her here). This is a story about Elena, a massive Star Wars fan who decides to queue outside the cinema for the new Star Wars film.

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes- I won this on Goodreads and when it didn’t turn up, I contacted Killer Reads and they very graciously resent it to me. I don’t know too much about this book except it opens with the body of a dead boy being found, chopped in half and the other half has been replaced with half a deer. It’s most often listed as a horror and crime book in Goodreads and while it’s not something I’d usually gravitate towards, I looking forward to giving it a chance.

The Secret Lore of London by John Matthews- This is an ARC I requested on BookBridgr and it was sent by Coronet. I requested it as I LOVE reading about London and this book is about stories, historic and mythical, during the vast history of the city. The first half of the book is essays from experts in their fields and the second half is about the sites listed that are still in existence.

 

This stack of books I won from Penguin Random House Ireland on their Twitter account! From top to bottom

The Way We Were by Sinead Moriarty, Somewhere Inside of Happy by Anna McPartlin, Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden, The Hurley Maker’s Son by Patrick Deeley, The Happy Pear by David and Stephen Flynn, Sisters and Lies by Bernice Barrington, The Republic by Seamus Murphy, Busy Mum’s Cookbook by Annabel Karmel, Good + Simple by Hemsley and Hemsley, and Foodproof Cooking by Mary Berry.

I only got these yesterday so I still don’t know I whole lot about them. I am glad at some new cookbooks though! I always love cookbooks. I’m intrigued by Sisters and Lies by Bernice Barrington as last week on Twitter Sheena Lambert, author of The Lake which I read and reviewed in this post, recommended this book to me. Decisions decisions! I did bust of my Penguin mug yesterday and hand a browse of Mary Berry while eating crumpets.

 

          

Yes, I drink with the spoon still in the mug, I’m a monster!

 

Audio Books

I had some credits to use up and also availed of the Audible Daily Deal (I get an email every day with whatever book they’ve discounted, usually £1.99-£2.99)

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell- The author decides to move to Denmark, officially the world’s happiest country. This kind of thing is right up my alley, I love memoirs and stunt journalism style of books.

Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran- I’ve read all Moran’s books and I listed this in my 2016 Book Releases post. I had hoped by library would get it in, but as I had credits to use up before they expired I picked this, only to find out the next day that the library has ordered it. Sigh! However I’m looking forward to listening to Moran read this, especially since Chloe over at Nurse Fancy Pants has listened to it and enjoyed it!

Soulless by Gail Carriger- I’ve read Gail Carriger before. I read her Finishing School series because my friend Brandy over at Undrinkable Brandy recommended it. She’s also read the this series and liked it so I’ve had it on my TBR for a while. But when I saw Elizabeth from Books and Pieces talk about the series and how much fun she’s having reading them that I decided to get this.

 

E-Books

I have a good few ebook ARCs but I’m not going to include these in this post. Instead I got one book on Kindle.

 Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. This was a free book from Amazon, every now and again I’ll get an email saying I can get a free Kindle book from a list of 5-6 books. This was the only one that jumped out at me. I don’t know anything about this other that it’s a fantasy book and I’ve heard good things about Robin Hobb books before.

 

 

 

I still have that Easons e-voucher to use up, I just can’t seem to make my mind up. Like I said above, decisions decisions! If you’ve read any of the above, let me know what you thought in the comments below

March Reads 2016

This post continues digital advanced reading copies from NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post reviews and all opinions are my own.

We’re in April already? How has this happened?! Anyway, for March I wanted to read mainly Irish authors, I blogged my TBR here. I got through most of them and read some others not on the list too.

March Reads

Can Anybody Help Me? by Sinead Crowley

I picked this one first as I knew Sharon from Behind Green Eyes had enjoyed it and it had been sitting on my Kindle for a while. Yvonne is a new mother in a new country who is struggling. She turns to the Netmammy forums to help her and she becomes friends with the other mothers on there. When one of the women goes offline and matches the description of a murder victim on the news, Yvonne is convinced it’s her friend. Sergeant Claire Boyle is pregnant and passionate about her job. She’s put on the case to investigate this murder but will anyone she takes Yvonne’s claims seriously? The book was a very fast quick read, you could easily read it in one go. I did enjoy it but I wasn’t blown away by it to be honest. I do love the fact Crowley used the idea of online friends and can you trust people you know online. Crowley has a second book out that also features Sergeant Claire Boyle which I think I’ll pick up as I liked that character.

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

This is the first Cecelia Ahern book I’ve read and I requested it on NetGalley because it’s a dystopian YA book. If you’re sick of dystopian YA books and all the tropes that go with it, you might not enjoy this. I did read a lot of those books after reading The Hunger Games and some were good, some were dreadful. This is defintely in the better camp. It’s set in a world where if you make a moral mistake, you are marked as Flawed, by being branded in a certain area on your body. The book centres around perfect 17 year old Celestine, who believes in the Guild and the Flawed system. Celestine is left in a difficult postition after an incident on a bus. She can lie and pretend to be perfect and continue on with her life. Or she can tell the truth and risk being found Flawed. I wrote a proper review post which you can check out here if you’re interested in finding out more.

 

Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes

I’ve mentioned before on here that I’m a fan of Marian Keyes. I reviewed her latest book which you can find here. I was staying at my aunt’s and saw this on her bookcase, so I picked it up and began to read. It follows Tara, Katherine and Fintan, who have all been friends since school in rural Ireland and now in their thirties, all living in London. Tara is forever on a diet, living with her horrible sexist penny pinching boyfriend and Katherine has been burned in the past and so she keeps herself single. Fintan has a boyfriend but his life takes a turn for the worst when he’s diagnosed with cancer. All their lives are thrown into disarray as they try to come together during this crisis. I enjoyed this book, I liked seeing the dynamics of the friendships. I’ll admit, there was times when I wanted to reach into the book and slap Tara! Her boyfriend was horrible. My favourite thread of the story was with Katherine and Joe. Marian does a great job at making you want to cry one minute and then laugh the next. The book is quite long though, I would have prefered it to be slightly shorter.

 

The Secret Place by Tana French

 I read the first Tana French book 2 years ago when I was reading all Irish authors for March 2014. The Secret Place is the 5th book in the Dublin Murder Squad series. Detective Stephen Moran is working in the Cold Case Squad when 16 year old Holly Mackey (daughter of Frank Mackey, the main detective in book 3) comes to him with a photo claiming to know who killed a boy on grounds of the all-girls school a year earlier. Moran teams up with Detective Antoinette Conway, one of the detectives on the original case, to try and find out once and for all who killed Chris. This book was a bit different to the other books in the series. It’s told in present time, interviewing the girls in the school and trying to piece things together, as well as in past time, the months leading up to the murder from the prospective of the girls. Because the second narration was to do with the girls, I feel like we never got to know Detective Stephen Moran all that well, especially because the present time narrative is done over just one day. I will say that French manages to capture teenage friendships and nuances really well, with just enough nostalgia to have me thinking back to my school days! The mystery had me guessing til near the end when I twigged it and it was good to see Frank Mackey again, who lands on the scene when he finds out that Holly might be implicated. It’s possibly my least favourite of this series but it was still enjoyable. And I was delighted when Beth over at Plastic Rosaries told me that there’s a new book coming out later this year!

 

The Lake by Sheena Lambert

This is another book I read because of Sharon’s review! The book was sent to me by the author last year but for some reason it just wasn’t capturing my attention until now. Set in 1975, a body is found on the shores of a man made lake. Detective Sergeant Frank Ryan is sent from Dublin to investigate. There he finds Peggy Casey, youngest of the Casey family, struggling to keep the family pub The Angler’s Rest afloat while her 3 older siblings barely help, too busy getting on with their lives. I enjoyed this book, it’s different than I expected. It IS a murder mystery but that’s not the forefront of the book. It’s really a family drama, where this mystery body is the catalyst for all these family secrets waiting to spill out. I liked the setting of the novel, I seem to be enjoying books set in 1970s as I also really liked The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. I liked the main character of Peggy, I felt myself rooting for her as she battles with her siblings, wanting to live her life but also not wanting to let the family business close. If you like your murder mysteries to be more thrilling and have a lot of tension, then you won’t get it here. But you will get a mystery that flows well, is a fast read and has likeable characters.

 

The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde

I read The Picture of Dorian Gray in March 2014 and I enjoyed it (bar some rambling part midway through which bored me). I’ve been trying to read more plays and so I picked this one up, not really knowing much about it. Two friends, Jack and Algernon, have wooed two different woman using the same allias of Ernest. It all comes to head one weekend when all 4 people end up in the same house in the country and confusion (and hilarity) ensues! I really enjoyed this, I found it really witty and actually laughed out loud once or twice. I’d like to see a stage production of this if I get the chance.  If you’d like to try Oscar Wilde but you’ve put it off, I think this would be the best place to start.

 

The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney

For some reason I hadn’t heard of this book until it was announced as part of the longlist for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. I requested it on NetGalley and went into  it not knowing what to expect but I was bowled over by this. Jimmy Phelan, big career criminal, brings his mother Maureen home from London after she was banished there 40 years earlier for having him out of wedlock. One day she discovers an intruder in her house and bashes his head in with religious relic. And thus the story unfolds, linking together various people on the grittier side of life: the alcoholic abusive father Jimmy enlists to help get rid of the body, his 15 year old son Ryan who is a drug dealer and madly in love with his girlfriend, their nosy poisoness wannabe do-gooder Tara, prostitute and addict Georgie who just wants to know what happened to her missing boyfriend. The story spans 5 years and over those years we see these characters weave in and out of each others lives.

I love McInerney's writing, it was witty, gritty and grim. Having lived in the city it's set in for 4 years, I loved being able to know all the places this is set. I could hear the Cork lilt rise off the page reading the dialogue between characters. McInerney writes characters how are tough but show how vulnerable and self destructive they are too. I liked seeing the lives link up, I know some people might think it's convenient or cliched but I love when stories do this and I thought it was effortless. Well worth the read!

Demon Road by Derek Landy

Derek Landy is a name I’m familiar with as I have 2 siblings that loved the Skulduggery Pleasant books but I have never been tempted to pick one up. I kept seeing Demon Road everywhere though so I decided to chance it, I was going to get it from the library but it popped up on NetGalley as the second book is out soon, so I requested it there instead. 16 year old Amber lives a normal American life. Until she finds out that she's demon and that her demon parents plan to kill and eat her as part of their pact with the Shining Demon! Amber is forced to go on the run with the mysterious Milo to try and escape her parents and find a way to stop all this craziness.

I really enjoyed this book, I love how Amber is a normal girl (besides the demon aspect!) and how she's just trying to come to terms with all this and still be a good person. This book has ghosts, vampires, creepy murderous children. It's well paced, maybe too much so at times. It felt a bit formulaic with problem then solved on to next problem etc. but seeing as this is a young adult book that could be what I'm picking up on. And it didn't make me enjoy the book any less. I liked the characters and look forward to the next book which I’ve already started!

 

Asking For It by Louise O’Neill

You’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard of this book. Set in a small town in Ireland, Emma is a typical eighteen year old who enjoys going out and having fun with her friends at the weekend. After one weekend, she wakes up the next morning on her front porch, in agony and unable to remember the night before. But soon pictures and videos crop up online and Emma’s life is changed forever.

This book starts off as a normal enough read. O’Neill captures certain elements of being a teenager perfectly, the vernacular as well as the competitive element of constantly trying to be the prettiest, the smartest, the most popular. Emma isn’t a particularly likeable character, but I think this helps with the book because even though I didn’t like her, I still hated what happened to her and felt sorry for her. The main themes of this book is incredibly important, there’s so many issues here that need to be discussed more: rape, slut shaming, victim blaming, the hive mentality of small towns, using social media to shame people. I’m not surprised at the reaction of the people in this book, which as I type this makes the whole thing even more disgusting. The whole thing makes me so uneasy but that probably makes it even more of a reason to read this book. I did think it fell apart by the second half, it felt repetitive and I was a bit bored but it wouldn’t put me off telling people to read this book.

 

Who’s That Girl? by Mhairi McFarlane

The only non-Irish author I read and finished this month! Edie's life takes a turn for the worst when at her colleagues' wedding, the groom kisses her. Not wanting to face work, her boss agrees to give her a job back home in Nottingham, ghost writing the autobiography of the hot new actor Elliot Owens until things die down. Adding to all this is having to move back in with her father and her younger sister who seems to hate her.

This is the second Mhairi McFarlane book I've read and I enjoyed it. The book explores some interesting themes, like how the man in a cheating scandal can come out smelling like roses while the woman gets ostracised and torn to shreds. She also goes through how social media can make it much easier to do this and it reminded me a bit of So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. I don't feel like I fully clicked with Edie as a character, I didn't hate her though and at times I did find myself cheering her on. I liked seeing her relationship with her sister and all the issues they have. One scene had me tearing up but then laughing by the final line. The end disappointed me a bit as I felt it left some things unresolved but I can see why McFarlane wanted the ending to be that way. It was an enjoyable quick read, perfect if you're a fan of Lindsey Kelk!

March Stats

Number of Books Read- 10
Ratio fiction to non-fiction- 10:0
Ratio female to male- 8:2
Number of eBooks- 6 (Can Anybody Help Me?, Flawed, The Lake, The Glorious Heresies, Demon Road, Who’s That Girl? )
Number of Books Borrowed from Library- 2 (The Secret Place and The Importance of Being Ernest)

Book Riot Challenge Completed

Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel- Flawed

Overall I felt this was a month of highs and lows for me. I probably would have read more but after I finished Asking For It, I started a biography and that has slowed me down a lot. I would have liked to have read all my TBR, I couldn’t have read the Shane Hegarty one but I still have Miss Emily to read. And I really wasn’t in the mood to listening to anything so I didn’t start  The Gathering. I finished no non-fiction which has annoyed me as I haven’t read a lot of non-fiction this year. 9 months in the year left to change that though!

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern Book Review

This post continues digital advanced reading copies from NetGalley. I am under no obligation to post reviews and all opinions are my own.

Having never read Cecelia Ahern before, when I saw this and the fact it's a YA book I decided to give it a go. The world this is set in has Flawed people, people who have been found guilty not of crimes but other moral problems, like lying or stealing from society. Once they are found guilty by the Guild, they are branded in certain area that tells what their Flaw is (so if you had made a bad decision, you would be branded on the temple). Celestine is a 17 and lives a logical, perfect life. Great at school, perfect boyfriend and lives by the rules. She believes strongly in the Guild and what they stand for. So when an event on a bus changes her life, Celestine finds herself in a difficult position. Lie and pretend she is perfect or tell the truth and risk being found Flawed.

The book itself gave me mixed feelings. A lot of it felt very familiar, but then again, with the rise in popularity of dystopian YA books with female main characters that's not too surprising. And doesn't mean it can make the book any less enjoyable. I found myself annoyed at times by the idea of being found flawed by assisting a Flawed person. In Celestine's case, the reason she is brought before the Guild is because she tried to get a non-Flawed woman to move out of the Flawed seats on the bus (only two per bus) so this sick old Flawed man could sit down. When the woman doesn't move, Celestine helps him into a normal seat so he can stop coughing and catch his breathe. The idea that helping a sick man, even though he's Flawed, can find you in trouble but allowing him to be sick on the bus, to the point where he might collapse or even die and that not helping him isn't a problem in this world that has a strong moral superiority just baffled me a bit. But over time, while thinking this over, I could see how things like this actually could happen in a society. That groups of people could be given curfews or made wear armbands or be branded could happen and have actually happened before so.

I did like the world this is set in, while it's dystopian it's still quite modern, using phones and tablets (this is possibly the reason why I didn’t at first click with the whole Flawed idea, as most dystopians I’ve read felt really detatched from the world I live in). I also liked how media and celebrity obsession is still part of the Flawed world. How the media were so interested in Celestine and her all aspects of her life. The book was a quick read and I found myself reading fast as I wanted to see what happened. I like how we see why people are so interested in Celestine, why so many different people see her as a pawn and how she could alter the world by pushing their own agendas. I'm not sure how I feel about this potential love triangle (I don’t think it needed it), but there's always some mysterious figure in dystopian books! I think if you like dystopian YA books and don't mind exploring similar themes then you'll enjoy this.

Shamrock Sharpie Nails for St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! I decided to give Sharpie nail art another go after enjoying the look I did for Valentine’s Day. I’m going to call these a ‘win-fail’.

To start off I used Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Coconut for a slightly off-white base coat. On my triggers (thumbs and index finger) I used Revlon in Gold Coin. I drew on the shamrocks using my Sharpies, let dry for a bit and sprayed with hair spray to ‘set’ them so they wouldn’t streak when I used top coat. Only for me to look down after and see that it did streak after all. But I liked it, the colour bled a bit but the shamrocks kept their shape. Hence why it’s a ‘win-fail’, it could have been a lot worse and in the end I actually liked the effect. Next time I decide to do Sharpie nails I’ll try and let the design dry a bit more and hold the hair spray further back so it’s not as wet going on the nails.