Halloween Special - Becoming Mrs Lovett

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays of the year (not biased at all, especially not since it is the day after my birthday....) so it would be awful if I did not plan to post something special for today.

A while ago, I filmed myself doing the hair and make-up that I did for Mrs Lovett when I performed it as part of a College Performing Arts Project. The video was filmed in April 2018 and the performance shown at the beginning was actually from June 2017, so it is fair to see that there has been some time between performing, filming and editing.

When looking back at this footage, I decided that it would be perfect to edit and post as a Halloween special!It is in no way a make-up tutorial, it is just my interpretation of the character; if you can't tell, I have taken more inspiration from the Tim Burton Movie than the Stage Show of Sweeney Todd when creating this look.

You may be absolutely horrified to see that I am brushing out my own hair and curling it again for this hair style. There is no need to worry, this is something that I chose to do to create a more dramatic look and I do sometimes curl my hair rather than use my natural hair for shows depending on the character and how much time I have to get ready. 

I hope that you enjoy this video and that you have a fantastic Halloween! If you enjoyed this video, please let me know and also let me know if you would be interested to see more content like this.

Music:

• A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd - Performed by Natalie Shaw and Luca Collantine 
• Johanna from Sweeney Todd - Click Here
• By the Sea - Click Here
• Not while I'm around - Click Here

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas - A Review

It's that time of the week again, where I review another book in my favourite Book Series! This week I will be looking at Queen of Shadows, which is the fifth book written for the Throne of Glass Series but is technically the fourth book in the series (if you do not count the prequel The Assassin's Blade. I have written reviews for the previous book series so please read those before reading this one. You can find my reviews here:

• Throne of Glass Review - Click Here
• Crown of Midnight Review - Click Here
• Heir of Fire Review - Click Here
• The Assassins Blade Review - Click Here

Without futher ado, here are my thoughts on the book Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas.

Photo Credit: @marsdenreads on Instagram

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her, but at last, she has returned to the Empire - for vengeance, to rescue her kingdom and restore it to it's former glory, and to confront the shadows of her past. She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, the Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight. She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for he people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Here we are. Queen of shadows - one roller-coaster of a story.  I came out of the story unsure of what to think of it. It had broken my heart a million times and make me loose so much respect for Celaena. But I also really enjoyed this books. Despite the things that I disliked about it, I could not put this book down and I found myself completely engrossed in it. It did not end how I expected it to or wanted to, but I trusted Mass to tell this story and overall trusted her decisions, even though I did not necessarily agree or understand them all. It as a satisfying addition to the series in a lo of ways, and I did enjoy this book as a whole.

This is one of the biggest books in the series, coming in at over 650 paged. This is a series that I love and a world I adore, so having more story was the opposite of a problem. Although, I do think that the pacing was a little bit off in this particular book. There are only a few major plot points that take place in this book; there is a lot of talking between the characters with little action.

A thing that really makes me dislike this book is the fact that I found myself really starting to hate Celaena; I really found her frustrating in this story. She treated a lot of people badly, and it felt like it was out of character for her compared to what we saw of her in the first three books and the Assassin's blade. Most of the time, she pushed the blame of her actions onto others and did not take responsibility for them. She would make rash and stupid decisions and I felt myself shaking my head at her for write a bit of the story. The friendship between her, Chaol and Dorian seemed lost in this book. Celaena was happy to write off one as lost forever and she screwed over the other one so much. What happened to the beautiful friendship we saw between the three in the first two books?

As frustrating as her character was at times, Aelin is officially here. She is fierce and extremely smart, but a little arrogant at times. She has definitely changed after the events of Heir of Fire, and she is practically a completely different person. She undergoes a lot of growth and you really travel through those phases together with her, so you can understand what she is going through.

The story did introduce us to some new characters, but I had no real feelings about some of them. They were okay, but they just felt like they were there to add more pages to the book. However, I loved seeing Lysandra again after not hearing from her since the Assassin's Blade. She was awesome and I loved seeing this side to her, and her friendship develop with Celaena. She was a very interesting character, and this story introduced another side of Lysandra to us.

Now onto a more controversial character - Manon. Some people despise Manon and the witch chapters, which is something I will not understand, especially in this story. Manon is my personal favourite character in the series, and I find her fascinating. I liked her way more than Celaena in this story. In Heir of Fire, I wanted to skip the Witch chapters, but in this story I needed more! Manon went through a lot of character growth, starting her story arch as a psychotic which who had no feelings and loved to kill humans and drink their blood. She develops into a strong, in control leader, who is not going to take rubbish from anyone.

There were two main goals set out to be achieved in this book: Kill Arobynn and retrieve the amulet; free Dorian and free magic. These needed to be achieved, but it took so long to start to work towards them in the story. I hated the lack of caring for Dorian and his situation, Celaena was so cold when it came to that. The last third of the book is very action packed and it feels like everything has been packed into this part of the book. But the ending is something that I loved! I found rereading the story definitely helped me develop a better understanding of what was going on. This is a massive series, and the books steadily grow more chunky as you go along. There is very little in this book that feels significant, and a lot of the details in the previous books are brought to light in this book.

I am definitely conflicted when it comes to reviewing this book. On one hand, there were aspects that I absolutely hated, including Celaena's character arc. I especially was not a fan of the romance in this story. But overall I enjoyed the story and the reading experience. I could not put the book down, and I loved the journey that this book took me on.  It is rare for there to be a book that is over 600 pages and I am left wanting more. Luckily for me, when I read this book the first time, Empire of Storms was recently published, so I did not have to wait too long before I could find out what happened next!

September Favourites 2019

It is the time of the month where I talk about what my favourites were for the month! So much has happened over the month of September that I am really excited to tell you about. However, if you did not know, I have written favourites posts for the whole year. It's not neccessary to read those posts to understand this one, but if you are interested, here is where you can find them:

• January Favourites - Click Here
• February Favourites - Click Here
• March Favourites - Click Here
• April Favourites - Click Here
• May Favourites - Click Here
• June Favourites - Click Here
• July Favourites - Click Here
• August Favourites - Click Here

Without further ado, here are my favourites for the month of September!

Shows 

Les Miserables (UK Tour) at Newcastle Theatre Royal

On Saturday 7th September, I went to see Les Miserables at the Newcastle Theatre Royal which was fantastic! I thoroughly enjoyed the production a lot, with a strong cast lead by the wonderful Killian Donnely. 

The production was very different to the show I went to go and see in the West End, and this is the new staging that will be taking place in the Sondheim Theatre when the show reopens in December. I am confident that this show will do very well as there are some significant improvements in the staging that make the show even stronger than before, with many callbacks to Hugo's original novel scattered throughout the show that were previously not there. 

If you are a fan of this show I highly suggest going to see it on tour, and please do not worry about it being completely ruined without the revolve stage, trust me, the show is in good hands!

I did write up an entire review on this show and went further into comparing it to the original production that I saw, so if you would be interested in reading more about this, click here.

Home-ware 

New House 

At the beginning of September, I moved into my new home, where I would be staying for the rest of my studies at university. And I absolutely love it. I do have a couple of posts upcoming about how staying in a student house is different to staying in halls ect, so do keep an eye out for that! But as far as student houses go, this one is absolutely stunning and I love it here. Having a double bed does have its disadvantages though, I am finding myself not wanting to get out of bed when I have a lecture at 9am. But other than that it is fantastic!

Jewellery Stand 

I shop in New Look quite a lot, and I don't usually look at their home-ware, but I spotted this Jewelry stand in their sale section and fell in love with it. I did not have a real place to store my jewelry at university last year, everything ea just shoved into a box. But with this stand, I can see where all of my jewelry is and I can pick what I want to wear. I think I even prefer this over the more traditional jewelry box. I have one at home, and I have a similar issue, I cannot really see what jewelry I have inside. I think this is a much nicer way to present my jewelry and more practical and it is easy to see where everything is, which makes it easier to decide what to wear on a  particular occasion. 

Dinosaur Plant 

As mentioned above, I've never really looked at the Home-ware items in New Look before, but when I was picking up some last minuet things for my new house at university in August I found this little guy. I have always wanted a small plant or something just to add some green to my room, and this was absolutely perfect! He just adds so much character to the room and is the perfect little accessory to finish off my room. Note to self, shop in New Look Home-ware more often!

Wax Burner 

I love having a scented candle in a room, but there is something so special about wax burners. It was gifted to me before I moved away for my second year at university and I don't think there has been a night where I have not lit it. It is such a great way to make your room smell nice, but it also looks quite pretty on my shelf. One thing I definitely missed when I lived at halls last year was having scented candles in my room. 

TV 

Escape the Night (Season 4) 

As mentioned in my previous favourites, I really love the Escape the Night series, and the Fourth Season finished this month. I really enjoyed this season of escape the night and loved seeing some of my favourite characters return! My one complaint about this season is Bretman - its nothing personal, its just that he felt really out of place in this season due to it being an All Stars season. Maybe he should have been saved for season 5, but oh well. It was still a very good season and I really enjoyed it, I am excited to see what comes next for this series. 

Don't Tell the Bride 

Since getting our own house, my housemates and I all like to gather and watch TV Shows, one of these being Don't Tell the Bride. I enjoy watching this series anyway, since I am just fascinated with weddings. I love shows like this and Say Yes to the Dress and Something Old, Something New, so getting to watch it with my friends is something that I really like! Its nice to have someone to discuss it with, to agree that he picked out a really nice dress, or the chat about what a mess the wedding venue looked.

Young Justice Outsiders 

I have finally watched the second half of Young Justice Outsiders, and I absolutely loved it. I really loved the spin on the Judas Contract, making the audience think one thing was going to happen when in an actual fact that is not what was going to happen at all! I loved the new characters that we got to meet this season, and I liked where the story took us. I am looking forward to the next season! Hopefully the Hiatus is not as long as it was between Season 2 and Season 3!

Fashion 

Green Striped T-Shirt 

As you may or may not know, I had a headshot photo shoot in September, and I was advised to find something that brought out my eyes and suited my skin tone. I had never really thought to much into colours that suit me before, I usually just throw something on if I like the look of it, but I had never had a professional photoshoot before. I then came across this top in Primark and it had all of the right colours in it! Not only does it look good in the headshots, but it also is something that fits really well in my wardrobe. It has become one of my favourite clothing items in my wardrobe and it was a very good purchase!

Green Cardigan 

Chunky knitted cardigans are a staple of  Autumn/Winter fashion, yet they are something that I have never had the chance of owning. I found this cardigan on an advert for Boohoo.com when scrolling through my Facebook - again this was at the time I was looking for items of clothing to wear for my headshots and I had established that green was a pretty good colour to go for - and thought I would order it to give it a go. The cardigan is of very good quality and was reasonably priced, not to mention that it is lovely and warm and also makes a cute outfit. It is a purchase I do not regret.

Beauty 

Noughty Wave Hello Curl Defining Shampoo 

I purchased the Noughty Wave Hello Curl Defining Shampoo when it appeared in an advertisement on my Facebook timeline. It said that there was 20% off all products on the Noughty website, so I hought I would give their shampoo a go. It smells really nice, and has made my hair go lovely and soft. But I will say, I do not think that I prefer the Noughty Shampoo over my go to Curly Wurly Shampoo from Lush!

Noughty Wave Hello Curl Defining Conditioner 

The Noughty Wave Hello Curl Defining Conditioner came in a bundle with the shampoo, and again, it smells really nice and really looks after my hair. I do appreciate that on the bottle it does say that they do not test on animals by saying that they are friendly to bambi and I do appreciate that. But I also have the same opinion on this as I do with the shampoo, it is lovely and I don't regret buying it, but I do have a preference for the American Cream conditioner from Lush over this one. 

Noughty Wave Hello Curl Defining Taming Cream 

Like the previous two products, the Noughty Wave Hello Curl Defining Taming Cream was included in a bundle, and I will say that if you absolutely love Noughty's products, then these bundles were absolutely worth it. They are also worth it if you just want to try out their products. This cream is really good for making sure your curls stay nice for the full day, and I really appreciate that. I prefer this product over the other two just since I have not really found anything like this, I would say the closest is hair gel or mousse, but I find that those products make your hair go really crust, where as I do not have this issue with the taming cream. 

Noughty Hello Curls Define and Reshape Curl Primer 

This product was not included in the bundle. However, it is probably my favourite out of all the products that I have bought from Noughty. It is brilliant when you are on the second day of not washing your hair and, this is a terrible description but it is the only way I can really describe this product, resets the curls and refreshes them. This product was my life saver when I travelled to London over night on a bus for 9 hours when attending the biggest interview of my life. 

Revolution Mattify Matte and Fix Primer 

Primer was always something that I didn't think I needed in my makeup routine and that it did not make much of a difference to how I looked. WOW WAS I WRONG. I bought this primer to use for y headshots and Disney Interview and it made all the difference to my face. It made everything look more natural and also made my makeup last longer on my face. I have used other primers before, but this one definitely is the best one that I have used so far!

Revolution Sheer Brilliant Lip Gloss

(In shade Sheer White Wedding) 

This was an accidental purchase. Sounds weird, but it was one of them things were I was like "I really need this now" and then I ended up bringing it home. Oops. It has become one of my favourite things in my lip collection though. I have not really been a fan of lip glosses, but I really like how this works. Probably the fact that it is a more subtle colour helps the whole lip-gloss thing since previously the only lip glosses I had used have been quite bold and noticeable. This one looks very natural and seems to be rather long lasting. Put it this way, it lasted a trip from Victoria (being applied at 6am) to Epping (reapplied at 1:30pm) in London with a cheeky detour down Oxford Street. If you are looking for a lip-gloss, this is definitely one you should consider!

Revolution Pro Loose Finishing Powder

This is a purchase that has previously appeared on my Favourites list this year and here it is making another appearance. This has to be my favourite setting powder that I have ever bought which is why it is making a reappearance here now. There is not much else to say about this. My thoughts are very much the same. But if you would like to know what I thought about it before, click here.

Rimmel London 100% Waterproof Mascara 

(In shade Black/Brown) 

For my headshots, I needed to look natural, but without mascara I look like I have no eyelashes. With my usual mascara, everything looks a little bit weird, especially if I am not going for a full makeup look. This lead to the purchase of this mascara, and it made all the difference on my face. It made my eyelashes stand out but in a natural way, and if you look at my head shots you probably wouldn't even know that I was wearing mascara. 

Other 

Florida Scrapbook 

In case you haven't seen my previous posts, I recently went on holiday to Orlando Florida over July and August, and I took a lot of photos with my Polaroid camera. I wanted to have a way that I could display my photos but also keep them in a nice condition, so I thought what better than arranging them into a scrapbook. I absolutely love my Florida Scrapbook, and there is room to add even more memories in the future, so this may turn into a Travel Scrapbook! It's a great way to combine the little souvenirs I have collected along the way with my photos!

Headshots with Flying Fletcher Headshots

This month I had my first ever professional photo shoot for a headshot, and I had so much fun! I absolutely love all of the edits that I got back! The company who took them was Flying Fletcher Headshots and I would definitely recommend them if you were looking for a headshot! It was a very chilled out photo shoot and I received my edits back really soon!

Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks

Couldn't have a Autumn Favourites list without my favourite Starbucks drink - the Pumpkin Spice Latte. I know that there are other companies that have tried to recreate this iconic drink, but nothing will replace the original! Unfortunately, the Starbucks in my hometown has closed down, and there is not a Starbucks in the town where I am currently living for university (yes, I have made a terrible mistake, and it wasn't choosing to do a Musical Theatre Degree) so I have not been able to buy as many as I would have liked, but I did buy one when I went to see Les Miserables at the beginning of the month, and when I went down to London for my Disney Interview I bought another two, so atleast I have not been deprived this season. I have no idea what will happen next season though.

And that is it for my September Favourites! I can't quite believe that we are over halfway through the year now. There are oly going to be three more Favourites 2019 posts, which is sad, but wow I have managed to keep this up for almost a whole year! Still, I hope you have enjoyed reading, and thank you for your continued support throughout the year. 

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas - A Review

The Assassin's Blade is a Prequel to the Throne of Glass Series, but it is recommended that you read it after Heir of Fire since that is the order that the books were written. I did read it after Heir of Fire in my first read through since I think that it helped to establish the world and the characters before going and learning more about Celaena's Backstory, plus there are characters in this story that were rumoured to appear in the next book so reading this after Heir of Fire would mean that these new characters would be fresh in your mind. For a first time read through I would recommend reading the books in this order, however I did really enjoy reading this story first before Throne of Glass in my other read throughs of this series. I have written reviews for the previous books in this series, so please have a look at those reviews if you get the chance, I will list them below:

• Throne of Glass Review - Click Here
• Crown of Midnight Review - Click Here
• Heir of Fire Review - Click Here

Apologies for the long introduction here, without further ado, here are my thoughts on The Assassin's Blade!

 Photo Credit: Aedionashryver from Instagram 

Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. She owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel - he gave her a home at the Assassins Guild and taught her everything she knows. Despite this, Celaena yields to no one, and she only trusts her fellow killer-for-hire Sam. She finds herself acting independently of her masters wishes when Arobynn Hamel dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, and she questions her own allegiance.  She makes friends and enemies along the way, and discovers she feels far more than just friendship towards Sam. She risks unimaginable punishment by defying Arobynn's Orders, and with Sam by her side, he is put in danger too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn's clutches, and if they fail, the will not only loose a chance at freedom, but their lives too.

The Assassin's blade is a collection of five novellas and offers a deeper look into the history of the cunning assassin who is the heroine of the Throne of Glass series. Included in this book are the stories:

• The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
• The Assassin and the Healer
• The Assassin and the Desert
• The Assassin and the Underworld
• The Assassin and the Empire 

These novellas explains the backstory to things that have been mentioned in the first few books in the series, and explores events that happened before Celaena's inevitable arrest. In my opinion, this novella bind-up reads much more like a novel since the novella's build on each other to tell an overall story.

These stories all provide an incredible amount of insight into Celaena's character, allowing the reader to connect with her on a much deeper level. The fact that she has all this backstory allows readers to be much more invested in her character and story. In fact, these novellas made me realize how important having a backstory for your character is, as it provides the reader with an understanding of how your character ended up in their situation.  In addition to this, there are so many characters written in these stories that end up coming back in the final few books in this series, and I am always in awe of how Maas effortlessly weaves these characters into the overall plot of the series and how much their story lines connect to each other. 

There is no doubt that this is the best collection of Novellas that I have ever read, and they definitely add to the series in a positive way rather than being an after thought. 

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord is the first novella in this bind-up and follows Celaena and Sam Cortland as hey are sent to oversee a business agreement in Skulls Bay by Arobynn. There they encounter the Pirate Lord Captain Rolfe. They soon find out that the business Arobynn is getting involved in is the slave trade; straight away Celaena knows that she can't let the deal go through. 

This was a fantastic way to dive into the Throne of Glass universe. It instantly reminds the reader of what makes Celaena such a great character, showing her arrogance, her fierceness and her strong morals.You are able to recognize in Throne of Glass a lot of the traits that are present in Celaena here, though perhaps they are not as extreme. Having not been subjected to the horrors of Endovier, Celaena's attitude has not yet been subdued by anything. Here, she is all arrogance and the epitome swaggering assassin. It is clear to see how her character has evolved from this point.  

It is so nice to finally meet Sam too, after hearing about him in the first few books in the series, and its so good to finally understand the connection they had between each other. Celaena and Sam have a very interesting dynamic, and I am a huge fan of how the relationship between the two characters develop in this story. They are practically at each other's throats in the beginning of the story, but they begin to trust and rely on each other as they work together to free the 200 slaves; we can see that Celaena begins to value his company. The Shift is so subtle for her that when she realizes that she might actually like him, shes not quite sure what to do with herself. 

Following this, the fact the Celaena frees 200 slaves reveals so much about her character. Not only is the story very exciting to read, but we see what is underneath all the vanity and sass. Despite her profession, Celaena values human life and detests the inhumanity of slavery, so much that she's willing to risk her own life and risk the wrath of Arobynn. 

This story is not strictly vital to read and enjoy the series, but is adds so much more to the story if you do read it. It is a strong self-contained adventure that serves a clear purpose. 

This Novella offers a nice glimpse into Celaena' life back when it was arguable less complicated than it is when we meet her in the Throne of Glass books. It gives us an indication of her character and conviction. 

The Assassin and the Healer

This story continues from where the previous one left off, but it is more of an in-between story. Celaena is travelling to the desert as part of her punishment from Arobynn, which is in the form of training the Silent Assassins. She stops off in Innish to wait for a boat, where she encounters a healer - Yrene Towers - who is stuck working in an inn. Yrene's mother was killed by Adarlan's soldiers for being a gifted healer. Yrene tells Celaena about how she wished to be a healer and study at the famed Torre Cesme in the Southern Continent after she is rescues from a group of Mercenaries, but she ran out of money before she could get there. Celaena teaches her some self defense moves before she continues on her way to the Red Desert; she leaves Yrene some money in the hopes that she would pursue her dream of becoming a healer. 

Yrene plays a critical role in the fate of a certain character, despite not appearing again until Tower of Dawn. Although this story may seem like filler on your first read through. I think that it is actually one of the most important Novellas in this bind up and is not one to be ignored. Without this story, the end of this series could have been much different. But I will elaborate more on this in a future review (you will know when we get to that point!)

The Assassin and the Desert

In the next installment, Celaena is out in the Red Desert, training with the Silent Assassins. This, again, picks up where the previous story left off, with Celaena being sent to the keep of Silent Assassins as punishment for destroying Arobynn's slave deal with Rolfe in the first story. We learn that Arobynn beat Celaena unconscious before packing her off to train in the Red Desert as a punishment, giving us insight to the brutal reality she lives in. Celaena begins to notice how abusive Arobynn truly is as she is training with the Mute Mater - especially in comparison to his even-tempered kindness

The Assassin and the Desert is undeniably an important backstory for Celaena. Here she meets Ansel of Briarcliff, who is Celaena's first true female friend. It is with Ansel that Celaena steals the Asterion Horses alluded to in Crown of Midnight, and the two girls share a bond, both being children of conquered lands. Ansel also briefly mentions the once-mighty Witch Kingdom of the Western Wastes - information that winds up playing a large role in the series, beginning in Heir of fire.

In addition to this, Celaena comes across a travelling merchant selling Spidersilk, who bargained away twenty years of his life to attain it. I only mention this as it turns out this merchant has a connection to a certain character which we learn about in Empire of Storms and says he was planning on travelling to the Southern Continent.

It turns out, in the end Ansel's desire to avenge her murdered family overcomes all other parts of her, and she is lead to betray the Silent Assassins, including Celaena. They end up fighting with each other over the Mute Master's life, and though Ansel is spared, the betrayal haunts Celaena. It is obvious to the reader that Ansel is one of the big reasons why Celaena is so hesitant to let people into her life.

As a thank you for saving his life, the Mute Master gives Celaena all the gold she would need to pay off her debts to Arobynn and to become free. This comes into play once again, much later in the series.

This is another complete story arc. It is a new setting, you meet some new characters and you definitely get a glimpse of another area of Erilea and learn more about the complicated political dynamics in this world.

The Assassin and the Underworld

This is the story where Celaena returns to Rifthold, and is reunited with Sam. She returns to Arobynn expecting to immediately buy her freedom and be rid of his hold on her, but upon returning, she is once again wrapped up in his twisted mind games. As much as I hate Arobynn, he is such an interesting character to read about. The dynamic between him and Celaena is so complicated, and is such a gray area and really draws the reader in. 

There is also a moment where Celaena and Sam unknowingly meet Dorian and Chaol; it kills me that Dorian and Celaena do not realize this later on, especially when Dorian says he wished he could have met Sam.

This story shows that Celaena is a ruthless assassin, but can also be a totally girly girl, which is something I love. She gets so excited about dresses, jewelry, perfumes and many other things, and the greatest part of it all is that she wears those things only for herself, not to impress others or as a cover on her assassin missions. And then, you know, she also has the skills to kill you.

The Assassin and the Empire

And here comes the heartbreak. If you read Throne of Glass before reading this book, then you will 100% see this coming, but it did not make it any easier to come to terms with. 

The Assassin and the Empire is the last novella in this bind-up and reveals what happened in those final days before Celaena's capture. Sam and Celaena take on an assassination job to eliminate the Crime Lord of Rifthold - Ioan Jayne - and the sadistic Rourke Farran - His second. This contract was to get enough money for them both to move far away from Rifthold and out of Arobynn's shadow. But - as most of us know already going into this story - the mission goes horribly wrong. 

I find the ending incredibly hard to read, as I rediscover my love for Sam every time I read this book. Sam's death is possibly the most devastating character death I have ever read, and I am unsure that I will ever recover from it. One of my favourite scenes is when we learn that Celaena's saying, "I will not be afraid" comes from Sam, and I cherish the sweet moment we have of Celaena and Sam together. Everytime Celaena says "I will not be afraid", it is a reminder of how Sam is still kept in her hears, and knowing the story behind these words makes them so much more powerful to the reader. 

It is obvious as the final events of the story play out that Celaena is betrayed, though she is not ready to come to terms with the reality of who exactly betrayed her. While we receive a hint at who it was in Throne of Glass, in The Assassin's Blade, it is officially confirmed. 

My hatred for Arobynn reaches new heights every time I get to this story, and by the end of it I just want him dead. 

This is an absolutely fantastic novella, it has romance, hope, betrayal, action, intensity and heartbreak. Once again, we are given a better understanding of Celaena as a person. This was a vital moment in her past that shaped her to be the person she is for the rest of her life. She had a youthful moment of hope, and freedom seemed so close, but sadly she has just proven how messed up and dark the world truly is. But despite everything that has happened, there's an almost hopeful tone to the final few pages of The Assassin and the Empire. Celaena has been through hell, and she knows that the worst is not yet behind her, but she sees the stag, the Lord of the North, and she knows that she will survive.

The Assassin's blade is an outstanding collection of novellas. The five stories flow directly into each other and together they tell the tale of events that got Celaena to where she is at the beginning of Throne of Glass. Together, they actually work as a complete novel. Although not completely vital to the series, The Assassin's Blade is definitely worth a read for a deeper insight into the characters in this world. 

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas - A Review

Before getting into this book review, I would like to say that I have already reviewed the first two books in this series, so this is just a spoiler warning in case you have not read those two books yet. If you have not read my review for Throne of Glass you can click here, and if you have not read my review of Crown of Midnight click here.

Photo Credit: @icelandicbookworm on Instagram 

I was very excited to leave Adarlan behind after I finished reading Crown of Midnight, since I was looking forward to explore more of this magical world that Maas had created with Celaena. Although I would miss the interactions between Chaol, Celaena and Dorian. But instead of opening the pages to find Celaena on an adventure, we find her drunk on a rooftop, drowning in her own self pity and doing...well..nothing. It was really a let down, especially after the exciting end of Crown of Midnight. It is not clear why Maas chose this opening, but it definitely gave the book a low emotional start.

Things begin to pick up when Celaena encounters a mysterious person who brings her to her Aunt Maeve - her cruel and ultimately, despicable relative. Before Maeve will share any secrets about the Wyrdkeys, Celaena is told she must master her powers; thus begins hundreds of pages of training and brutality between her immortal Fae warrior tormentor, Rowan Whitethorn, and Celaena herself. Celaena is filled with self loathing page after page, and holds such a low opinion of herself. This is not made better by Rowan agreeing that she is not worth keeping alive. There are many rounds of Celaena lashing out and insulting Rowan, and Rowan punching, taunting and horribly shaming Celaena back, and at points I wondered why I continued reading this story. But, eventually, Celaena inches towards accepting and actually understanding her powers and Rowan becomes a character you loathe less than you did before. I really liked their friendship together towards the end of the book though, and I think that Maas did a bad job of developing it in the later books (but we will come to that in the next reviews).

The endless training made the story feel dull at points. We understand that it will take a while before Celaena is comfortable enough to reach into that well within her and unleash her power, but it wasn't necessary for her to have to train to no avail in so many scenes. Of course, this was a way to show off her growing relationship with Rowan, but it made the beginning of the book a real struggle to get through.

Finally in this story, we got all the memories of the night Celaena's parents were killed. It was hinted at in the previous two books but never explained. Hopefully, now that Celaena has faced the darkness of her past, she can become a leader and stop running.

During my first read through of the Throne of Glass books, I absolutely hated the Witch chapters. Their story line served no purpose to advance Heir of Fire, and at the time it felt like it was just another plot line that was put into the book to add more filler to it. It had no connection the the plot of this book's arc and if erased from this novel there would have been no effect on the overall outcome of the main character. As much as I love the addition of Manon and her Thirteen (who are my personal favourite characters in the whole series) I feel like Maas should have saved their story arc for the fourth book in the series. Everything began to make more sense when I had read Queen of Shadows, but I still believe that their story could have been put into that book, or that their story line in Heir of Fire should have been smaller so that we were aware of them, but they weren't a major distraction from Celaena's Story.

Another issue I had with this book is that a lot of the characters make absolutely terrible decisions, or spend so much time crying over their unworthiness. Even though this is YA and Drama is to be expected, this was a little bit much. Celaena was a child when her parents were murdered, but she is still filled with so much self-loathing over th incident and the aftermath, it does get a little trying, especially when all magic is banned and there is little that she could have done. She gets even more upset about Nehemiah's death, even though she has already accepted that Nehemiah has chosen to sacrifice herself, so her refusal to forgive herself - or Chaol - makes her look foolish. I feel like this was the authors choice more than a character choice to keep a hold of these feelings, just to remind you that these events happened, but to me it really did not come across well.

Without Celaena there to ground them into a scene, the main side characters seemed to be a little lost. Chaol turns into a complete mess, filled with indecisiveness instead of mastering them, while Dorian spends the whole book hiding his powers rather than trying to master them. Speaking of Dorian, we were introduced to a new love interest of his, which was a bit meh. I felt no real emotions when she died as I never understood their relationship, it felt like Maas had created a character to make Dorian an "Off-Limits" character to Celaena romance wise. However, I did enjoy Dorian's growth in the way he manages to stand up to Chaol, pushing his once close friend to choose sides.

We were introduced to Aedion, which was a nice surprise, although his adoration for Celaena came across a little bit creepy and over the top.

The King of Adarlan remains an undeveloped character to me. He is given very little page time and is simply a background threat, ever present, but hardly ever in the scene. His assassin as been gone for months, but nobody seems to question this or check up on her to make sure that she has done the job that she has been sent to do.

Another thought, which I am not sure where this is going to fit into the review so I am giving it it's own mini paragraph, who do we need three names for our heroine. Celaena, Aelin, Elentyia...are they all really needed? It just made me very confused and wondering who this character was when finding out that it was actually the main character in the series. Please stick to one name, its already confusing enough as it is!

Overall, while it is really easy to pick on the little things in this book, I really love Maas' writing, and although this is a really slow, filler book, it all pays off in the next installment in the series. Much of the plot in Heir of Fire is over dramatized and the inclusion of a subplot that is irrelevant to this particular story really lowers my opinion on this book. Maas should have toned down the self loathing in this book and either found a way to connect Manon's story to the plot of this book or saved it for the next installment.

Although it is a struggle to get through this book, it is definitely worth it and everything makes much more sense when you get to the later books in this series.

All That She Can See by Carrie Hope Fletcher - A Review

It's no surprise that Carrie Hope Fletcher's genre of choice when writing books is magical realism, especially seeing that she is a devout fan of Disney, music and theatre. All That She Can See is Fletcher's second book after the success of On the Other Side. Set in Plymouth, the plot focuses on the lovable Cherry Redgrave and a very special gift she possesses...

Photo Credit: @CarrieHFletcher

Cherry has a hidden talent. She can see things other people can't and she decided a long time ago to use this skill to help others. According to the town, she is simply the kind-hearted young woman who runs a local bakery, but in private, she uses her gift to add something special to her cakes. This gift impacts the townspeople, and they start to feel better about their lives.

They don't know why they are drawn to Cherry's bakery - they just know that they're safe there and that's how Cherry likes it. No one will ever need to know the truth behind her gift; she can help them in secret. It turns out she's not the only one who can see what she sees, since everything starts to change when Chase arrives in town and threatens to undo all the good that Cherry has done...

All That She Can See has a whimsical yet grown up and contemporary fairy tale vibe, which has carried over from her debut novel On The Other Side. Carrie clearly has a fantastic imagination and a beautiful way with words, which results in a modern story that contains themes of morals, humanity and issues (such as mental health), but written in a reasonably simplified and easy to comprehend style. 

There is something for everyone in this story. In their review of the book, the Mail on Sunday said "Think Chocolat with a heaped tablespoon of Bake Off", and it is a pretty fair comparison to make. Add elements of Nanny McPhee and Divergent and you will start to get a better idea of the imaginative story at the heart of this novel. 

Many reviews of this book that I have read had picked aspects of this novel apart, and while I agree that there are elements of it that are a little more difficult to believe, the fairy tale feel of this novel side steps this issue for me. Nobody seems to be complaining of the impracticality of Cinderella wearing Glass Slippers!

The writing style of this book is definitely fairy tales for grown ups, I did pick up that there seemed to be a lot of cursing - especially in the second half of the book. Its not a negative as such, but to me they felt a little out of place in the story.

As previously mentioned, All That She Can See centres on a tight-knit community in Plymouth and a positive tone is set, that is before the man source of conflict is introduced - Mr Chase Masters.

Any reader would be quick to assume that Cherry and Chase would go on to develop a romantic relationship - as we see with most books this genre. Whilst this is the case, the important thing is that a valid reason is given and the relationship is not simply a cliche. Fletcher was trying to paint a bigger picture with the novel, and this works really well. Underneath the metaphors for human feelings, there were a few comments about happiness and emotions which Carrie was trying to make.

However, it isn't long before the bubbly elements of the story fade away and the story enters darker territory. Unlike On The Other Side, there were some shocking, haunting scenes in this book, which only shows development on Carrie's part as a Sunday Times best selling author. It really pays off too, being one of these books that can invoke specific images into the readers head when reading. At some points in the novel, I was so sure of what as going to happen, but Fletcher continued to surprise and intrigue with exciting twists and turns. 

In my opinion, the ending was a little rushed; I would have liked to know more about how the characters end up. We are given one of those more open ended final chapters. Overall, I thought that this was a really solid read that I will enjoy reading again. It is wonderful to see how Carrie has improved since her first book, and I am excited to see what happens with the next book she writes!

Disney CEP Application - An Update

Hello, this is just a very quick post to give you guys an update. So if you are not aware, I applied for the Disney Cultural Exchange Program 2020, and was invited to attend a Pre-Screening Interview with Yummy Jobs in Essex. The pre-screening interview was a fantastic experience and I got to meet so many fantastic people there, I have no idea how Yummy Jobs came to a decision. I said I would keep everyone updated, so I would like to announce that I have been invited to attend the Final Interviews at Disney HQ in London during November!

Excited isn't even the word to describe how I feel! I am so proud of getting to this stage, considering I didn't even think I would make it past the application round. There will probably be some time before I can provide more information since it is likely to be January 2020 when I will find out if I have successfully got onto the program, but know that I am working on a video documenting this whole experience. I really did not expect to get this far and thought that by now I would be able to post something, but I guess there's going to be a delay with that! I really want to make other guidance videos on how to create a successful application and what to do in your pre-screen interview at some point. 

I am very excited to share all this content with you eventually and obviously I can't wait to go to Disney HQ next month! 

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas - A Book Review

To follow on from my review of the first Throne of Glass book, here is my review of Crown of Midnight. If you have not read the previous review click here. Also there may be spoilers ahead, so just keep that in mind!

Photo Credit: @Readwithjesss on Instagram

Crown of Midnight is my favourite book in the Throne of Glass series and follows on directly from the events of Throne of Glass, with Celaena becoming really developed as a character and where we really start to get into the wider story. We really begin to gain a better understanding of Celaena's character and her past.

Celaena takes on her role as the King's Assassin for a King that she despises - after the events of surviving the trials during the contest we saw unfold in the first book. Her role does cause friction between her and her friends - Chaol and Dorian - as they struggle to understand why Celaena would work for a man that killed her entire family. Celaena secretly has her own agenda as she is tasked with killing one of the courts most popular male consorts, a young man who Celaena trained with as a child.

Celaena begins to unearth dark secrets about the king while the other characters in this book go about their daily lives, with Celaena being forced to confront her past and who she truly is. This is something that she has run away from for so many years.

The characters we met in Throne of Glass start to show us their true colours, with my opinions changing on Chaol and Dorian as the story developed. I found that I really liked Dorian a lot more in this book and while i did root for Chaol initially, he quickly fell out of my good books when he struggled to cope with what Celaena truly is. Chaol - Celaena's love interest in Throne of Glass - is someone very much championed for in the first book, since he has a sense of simplicity and warmth about him that made him highly attractive. However, Chaol seemed to really struggle with who Celaena was in this book, which leaves the reader wondering if he was truly the one for her. On the other hand, Dorian, the Crown Prince and a close confidante to Celaena - began to mature and grow as a person. This somewhat brought him and Celaena together.

And as for Celaena, I really enjoyed watching her go from a girl who worked at the whim of others to a young and powerful heroine. We are finally shown why she is considered Adarlan's most Famous Assassin now that she has some freedom to manoeuvre. Despite the strong woman she has become, we are still shown her weaknesses in this story, but she comes across as strong and confident, as well as being willing to sacrifice everything for the person she loves. At the same time, she does not let this love define her in any way.

The pacing in this book was incredible; it rarely felt like we were being forced into a plot twist at any point. I found the story really enjoyable and it was a brilliant sequel to the first story.

Maas delivers a strong sequel that offers hard hitting and jaw dropping revelations throughout. If you liked Throne of Glass then you will LOVE Crown of Midnight. While its not a massive epic story like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, it is a great read and I really struggled to put it down! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an enjoyable read.

A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson - A Review

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is a straight A* student, good hearted and very intelligent with an inquisitive mind. Pippa chooses to study a closed murder case from 5 years ago for her EPQ project while she is in her final year at college, and she believes that now is the perfect time to investigate and find out the truth about what truly happened to ex-pupil Andie Bell; she is determined to prove that Andie's boyfriend, Sal Singh, was actually innocent. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Sal committed suicide a few days after the murder, with his final words being a text to his family saying that he killed her. But did he? Pip doesn't think so.

When Pip sees Sal's brother Ravi being spoken to abusively in a local supermarket, she stands up for him to speak out against what she thinks is wrong, showing that she is a feisty young woman not afraid of what people think about her when she speaks up for what she thinks is wrong. They soon become friends and decide to work on Pips project to find out together what really happened the night Andie Bell disappeared and to prove that Ravi's brother was actually innocent.

Pip soon realizes that her school project is slowly turning into her own investigation and notices that some of the people that she has known and loves are not as innocent as she has always seen them as.

Holly Jackson portrays the Singh family brilliantly, conveying hat the family have been through the the hate mail and abuse that was hurled at them because of what their son had allegedly done. The town seemed to justify their hatred by blaming the families skin colour, not sugar coating what the 

life of a murderer's family would be like after the crime had been committed.

Usually when I have read thrillers, I have an idea in my head of who the culprit is really early on, but Holly kept me guessing throughout the story with plot twists that sent me around in circles with me suspecting one person, but then finding out that it could have been a different person. Also, Pip is such an inspirational character, with a no nonsense attitude and out of the box thinking. Her characterisation and the format the book was written in made me wish I could go back to my EPQ Project and do it all differently. 

Speaking of the format of the book, I found it very interesting and different to how other books have presented themselves. Jackson has mixed third person narration with extracts from the production log Pip created for her project.  The third person narrative helped carry the story along and painted a fantastic picture of the wider world and the people who lived within it; the project log entries in the first person allowed you to have a clear insight into Pip's thoughts and gave you the impression that you were investigating the case alongside Pip herself. I loved reading through Pip's interview files and looking as the suspect lists and diagrams; it really immerses the reader into the story. The plot was paced perfectly, with the tension and drama building through the first two parts before reaching the dramatic conclusion in part three. 

In my opinion, it was the characters that truly made this book great. They were the reason I became so invested in the story; I didn't just want to find out the truth about Andie Bell's disappearance, I needed it to be the truth so the characters I cared about could have a better life.

Starting with the star of the show: Pip who was an absolutely brilliant protagonist. She is smart and determined, but is not afraid to show some compassion. I fell in love with her just that little bit more when it was revealed her reasoning's for wanting to investigate this particular case. She has definitely made some difficult decisions throughout the story line, but with every choice she has to make she tries to do what she believes is the right thing for that situation.

We see Pip meet Ravi Singh early on in the story, and she tells him that she is investigating this case and - more importantly - that she does not believe that his brother Sal was responsible for Andie's disappearance and assumed murder. Jackson really makes you feel sorry for Ravi and his parents. It was not only Sal's life that ended when Andie disappeared, it impacted the whole family. with the whole town turning on them since they were relatives of a murderer. It is understandable why Ravi is a little apprehensive to the investigation at first, but it was enjoyable to see their friendship develop.

This review does not really do the book justice. It was everything I could hope for from a mystery thriller, with an engaging plot and wonderful characters. I really look forward to seeing what comes next from Holly Jackson.

Plan October with me!

After filming a small section of me planning out July in my Last days at University post, I decided that I wanted to try and create a longer video featuring my bullet journal! Unfortunately some of the footage corrupted, so I do not have any video of me drawing out the first few pages, however everything else is there.

Music:
Love in Autumn - Orange Head 
Dear Autumn - Ikson 
Little Idea - Bensound 
Cute - Bensound

Thone of Glass by Sarah J Maas - A review

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas was a book that was gifted to me in Christmas 2016. I read it in 2017 and re read it in 2018 and it became one of my favourite books of all time. I did not really write book reviews back when I initially read this series, but I thought, why not write one now. I have always spoken about these books as a series rather than individually, since I was not quite experienced with writing book reviews at the time and was rather intimidated at the thought of writing a review for each of these books. But now its been about a year since I last finished this series, and I have written many book reviews since then. So here we are. And here are my thoughts on Throne of Glass.

Photo Credit: TheBandarBlog

Throne of Glass is a fantasy story about the assassin Celaena Sardothien, who is dragged out of a prison camp to compete to be the Kings Champion but the Crown Prince of Adarlan, Dorian. We follow Celaena as she tried to overcome the consequences of spending a year of her life in the prison camp.  She goes through any tasks and competes against assassins, soldiers and criminals to win a contract which will ultimately gain her freedom.

There is little doubt that Celaena will win the competition, but she is shaken when the bodies of her competitors start appearing around the castle with organs missing and strange blood marks around them. What seems to be a straight forward story about assassins competing in a competition soon becomes a magical mystery; Celaena soon teams up with Chaol - the Captain of the Guard - to figure out what it killing off these competitors.

There are so many elements in this book that I really enjoyed. All three of our main characters are very likable. Celaena's youthful love life is a stark contrast to what she has been trained to do, and her interactions with the flirtations Dorian and the scowling Chaol seem to be very natural and relateable.

The writing style clearly appeals to young adults rather than older / younger readers. The pacing is fast and the emotions run high, but he book doesn't suffer from the flippancy of other young adult novels - with the exception of Celaena's growing affection for her two male counterparts. Speaking of the romance...

The one thing that lets this book down is the romance in the story - I did not like the pairing of Celaena and Chaol. However, unlike many other books in the YA Category, the romance did not overshadow the main plot and offered some nice light relief in contrast to the darker tones of the story. However, the romance did feel forced to me at times and I feel like Sarah J Maas was really playing on the love triangle trope in this book.

As a first in a series, Throne of Glass makes the reader long for more stories in the same world - which is always a bonus achievement for a book.  A lot has been set up for the sequel and the bad guys have been revealed to the reader (but not to the main characters), and you can sort of see where things may be going in the next couple of books.

I would recommend Throne of Glass to anyone who wants to see the Hunger Games and Game of Thrones combined. It is absolutely brilliant and a fantastic read. Keep your eyes out for reviews of further books in this series.