Sara Raasch - Snow like ashes

I love a good fantasy book and this certainly did NOT disappoint! I had been eyeing this up for a while before luckily receiving it as a christmas present. Snow like ashes is the first in a trilogy of books by Sarah Raasch. If you liked anything like the tearling books by Erika Johansen you will love this! 
The book is set in the land of Primoria with 4 season kingdoms and 4 Rhythm kingdoms each with it's own magical conduit for each of the rulers to help grow their kingdoms. The story is about a girl named Meira who is one of 8 people left from the 25 that escaped Winter when it was destroyed by spring. Meira is 100% devoted to the cause of saving Winter and they aim to do this by getting both parts of the conduit that was broken when Winter was overtaken. Meira quickly learns that she doesn't really get much choice when it comes to destiny and has to shape the way she is to try and stay as true to herself as she can in each new situation no matter how much she doesn't agree with it.
The book was really well written and Meira was such a great character though sometimes when she was discovering her thoughts and herself I kinda felt like a few things were repeating themselves or just a little unnecessary- it's hard to explain until you read it really - no spoilers happening here! Though it didn't really affect my love for the book at all. There were a few twists and turns, one which I had an inkling about - which came true but the book was so addicting I finished it within 3 days. I think I'm going to get Ice like fire to read this weekend - I was going to wait for my holiday but I can't wait till March to find out what's going on! 
have you read this?? what did you think? 
x
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Getting Lean in 15

Chances are you've probably heard of Joe Wicks and Lean in 15 by now, he has blown up massively this year. I've been a long time follower of Joe's instagram because he posts simple easy to make recipes that don't require complicated ingredients or insane amounts of time to make which is perfect for those days you really cannot be bothered cooking or if you don't have much time in general! It also means you don't have to troll online or go to special food shops to source ingredients. So naturally when his book came out I had to snap it up! The book explains the basic concept behind ' Lean in 15' and how Joe's plan works. It's then divided into 3 sections, meals you can eat normally, meals you eat after a work out ( these tend to be more carb loaded) and snacks. At the end of the book he's put in some HIIT work outs( he also has some on his youtube page)  and some examples of the 90days transformations as inspiration. Some of the recipes look delicious like the meatballs and pasta, Italian stallion sausages and also the tomatoes, eggs and chorizo. I will admit there isn't much for vegetarians which is the only downside so if you got this you would need to adapt the recipes. The book is nice and simple and has some great photography which is always a plus point for me! If you are thinking about getting a new recipe book to get you on that healthy track I really recommend this! The recipes are simple and don't require complicated ingredients you may need to go to a specialist store for or spending like £5 on a paste for one meal you may never use again. I managed to pick this up for £7.50 from waterstones which is an insane bargain! x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book review: Queen of the tearling

I was looking for some new books for my holiday and heard that Emma Watson was loving this book ( so much so she is starring in the film version and even producing it!) so I thought this would be the one to take with me. Safe to say I know why she loved it so much. 

This is such a fantastic book, I didn't quite catch at first this was set in the future as she was referencing Harry Potter and the Hobbit and then I realised. Basically in the future Jonathan Tear has a vision of a life where we aren't ruled by technology and we start afresh- this gets expanded much more in the sequel so I'll leave it at that for now.  Kelsea is a normal 19 year old, except she isn't, she's about to come out of hiding to inherit the throne and rule a country she doesn't really know anything about. Her Uncle is the current regent and will stop at nothing to make sure she doesn't make it to claim what is rightfully hers. Her Uncle is also working with the powerful and immortal Red Queen for Morteseme. Kelsea has to prove to her guard and the rest of the Tearling she isn't just some girl is who isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty and she stays true to her beliefs no matter the cost all whilst trying to stay alive. I really don't want to give too much away about this book, I think I say this with all my book reviews! It's a brilliant dystopian novel and Kelsea is really relatable. You have a great insight into how her mind works and why she makes the decisions she does. She is trying to best not to be a queen like her mother was but to do the right thing for her people. She's also a 19 year old who has no experience of the life outside of her adoptive parents and hasn't really had any interactions with men or what life is really like. Guiding her is the mysterious Mace head of her queens guard but she comes across many other influencial characters such as the Fetch.  PICK THIS UP NOWWWW  I loved this so much I bought the sequel as soon as I got back from my holiday so look out for that review coming soon! Erika Johansen PLEASE finish the 3rd book and also do more books than the planned trilogy.  Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book review: The Red Queen

I'm just going to say..casually... YOU NEED TO BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW.  like RIGHT NOW. like click here and buy it. NOW. did you buy it? good choice! This is like a dystopian fantasy book where there are two kinds of people in the world red blooded people or silver blooded people. The red blooded live in poverty whilst the silvers are rich with superhuman powers. Mare Barrow is angry, angry with the world and the way it is. Why are her people the ones to suffer? She's the kind of girl that does what she needs to to survive regardless of what other people think. One day Mare finds herself in a new situation and all of a sudden is thrown in with all these silvers disguised as a long lost silver princess and is engaged to one of the heirs. She uses this position as one of power and tries to help a red rebellion take down the silvers.  I'm really trying not to give a lot away because this book has some seriously amazing storylines that I really didn't expect. I felt like Mare herself was a really great character and always stayed true to herself. She falls in love with one prince and ends up with another and I was really shipping her and Cal but then the more she interacted with Maven I was like oh god. Who should she end up with? Both of them had really great points and were written so well. All the while she was putting herself and her people first and doing whatever it takes to survive. Oh gosh, honestly this is so hard to write just how amazing this book is without giving it away.  I closed the book and immediatly wanted MORE. There are two mini novellas coming out in January I beleive and the next book is due out next year. This is one of those books you just don't want to end! I'm doing it. 10/10. Bravo Victoria Aveyard - write me 20 more books please! Have you read this?! Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book Review : Clariel - Garth Nix

I've been a massive fan of Garth Nix Old Kingdom series since my early teenage years and I don't know why it took me a while to pick up Clariel if I'm honest. If you like fantasy then this is for you -  if you haven't read the other books in the series don't worry! Though I do feel having read the others first I had a greater understanding of it all. This isn't a prequel but a story of a character far before Sabriel & Lirael, the old kingdom trilogies main characters. 
Clariel is a teenager who knows what she wants in life, she just wants so spend it in the forest but when her parents take her to the city she will do anything to get back there. As part of her schooling Clariel must do charter lessons and unexpectedly gets her involved in something far bigger than herself. Clariel must choose between the life she has always wanted and the inheritance that is calling her.
I wasn't disappointed by this book at all, as per usual it had a great storyline and you really feel for Clariel as she battles with her head and her heart. Nix has a really easy writing that is great to follow and offers great descriptions of scenes and characters so you get a great visual in your head. I really recommend reading all the books from the series! 
have you read any of these before? 
Ciao 

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Book review: the truth about the Harry Quebert Affair - Joel Dicker

' if you're not brave enough to run in the rain, you'll certainly never be brave enough to write a book'
I really didn't expect to love this book as much as I did, it has a great storyline and it's written in an interesting way, in a way the book is almost written backwards in the sense the chapters are counting down and the table of contents is at the back. 
Each chapter starts with Marcus Goldman's tutor Harry Quebert giving him a writers tip from when he is initially teaching Marcus how to write.(the line at the top was one of my favourite lines from the book and was one of the tips) In a way Dicker followers the advice Harry gives Marcus during the book.
 The story follows Marcus as he gets severe writers block and goes to Harry's house for inspiration and advice, it's here he stumbles upon an old box with a photo of a girl Harry was in love with. It then goes on to the body of this girl being dug up from Harry's garden with his original manuscript of the book that made him famous. 
Marcus firmly believes Harry is innocent and we follow him as he attempts to prove this and someone clearly doesn't want him to. The story is told so well and there are some shocking twists that come out even when you think it's all been solved. If you like a good murder mystery I guarantee you will love this! 
Each character is well written and you get a good background to Marcus's drive and I find him a really interesting character in the sense that he purposefully stages himself to look better and ends up getting the nickname ' Marcus the magnificent'. His mum is an absolute psychopath and provides a little bit of comedy value to the book as well. The book flowed consistently and proved a great read! Score wise? hmm 9/10
Have you read this?  x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book: The girl on the train

As I mentioned in my previous review I am really into crime thrillers at the moment. 'The girl on the train' has had so much hype around it lately I decided to give it a go whilst on holiday.  First of all: I read this book in a day - it was addictive. I loved Rachel as a character, like I loved the way she thinks about things, I often have the same thought process. Basically the story is about a couple that Rachel passes on the train everyday and she nicknames them Jess and Jason in her head and pictures this perfect life they have together and what they are like as people. One day the train passes and Rachel see's something that she knows is wrong. To make things more complicated her ex-husband lives like 3 doors down with his new wife and baby. 
You follow Rachel as she's going through a really bad patch throughout her life and see her try to turn things around and as she tries to help this mystery couple out. You also follow the ex-wife Anna and ' jess' and get an understanding of their not so perfect lives showing that not everything is as it seems.  Without revealing anything there was something that I predicted to happen, as in I kinda had an inkling about the bad guy but this didn't affect the rest of the book and I couldn't have predicted how it all came about.
Paula has a really nice and easy writing style, and each character gets a good clear personality. I never felt like the book was being dragged out at any point. I'm not sure it's a 10/10 but it's a 9/10 for me! 
What did you make of this?  Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book: S.J Watson - before I go to sleep

Okay, I know, I am super late on the bandwagon with this one. I've wanted to read this book for ages and honestly I'm not sure why I never picked it up but a holiday is always the perfect time to get a new read or two!(or five in my case..). I'm kinda obsessed with crime thrillers at the moment! The story is essentially about Christine who wakes up everyday and has forgotten everything from the day before. There's little hints right from the beginning that something isn't right, should she trust her husband? I'll admit throughout this book I was right along with her like ' don't trust him!!!.... maybe he's alright...NO! ...then maybe he isn't the bad guy here'. The book unfolds in a really capturing way that makes you want to understand what the heck is happening to Christine. You really feel for her Christine is really vocal about all her emotions and thoughts and I found her character really relatable.  The only thing that kinda irked me was that the book is supposed to be written as if it's her journal entries but the way it is written it's not really like a journal entry....if that makes any sense. And for someone with such poor memory how can she remember the exact words someone said earlier?! I sure couldn't! If you ignore that minor fact ( and it is only minor because I do really like the way she has written it, it just didn't feel like a journal entry to me..) this is a really great book! Overall? 9/10!  I'm thinking about watching the movie now, has anyone seen it? is it worth it?  Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Review: eat nourish glow - Amelia Freer

Picture taken from Google.


This year I really wanted to get my healthy eating in order and improve my health and fitness, which you may have caught glimpses of.... although I haven't yet got my own kitchen to fully be able to do this. I decided in order to prepare myself I needed further education on nutrition and some more healthy recipes in my life!

This is about not treating your body like a dust-bin and listening to yourself and what works for you so that you can feel great. Naturally if you are going to fill your body with the right things you are also going to loose weight - added bonus! She explains what to have in your cupboards, how to start cutting out those bad things like gluten and dairy, explains the good fats and why we need to reduce sugar as much as we can. 

This book is jam-packed with tips and Amelia has a really great way of explaining nutrition to you, like a friend talking to you. Initially when I opened it and saw how small the recipe section was, I was a little disappointed but after reading the book I was pleasantly surprised to find recipes throughout the chapters! Whilst some of this I did know ( especially after reading - I quit sugar) I still found this book really valuable and educational and I feel really inspired to start my healthy journey.

I have created a new instagram to help me on my journey: healthy_lauzb - I'll be posting a lot of recipes and progress, there is soemthing about logging it for the world to see that helps with motivation! :)  .... This is most likely going to start end of May when I'm back!

Ciao x

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Book: Nele Neuhaus - Big Bad Wolf

I love Nele Neuhaus's style of writing, guaranteed this book is actually translated from German she has a way of hooking you in for more. This is a kind of sequel to her first book ' Snow white must die' what I mean is the entire story itself is separate but the cops solving the case were in the previous book and sometimes refer to some events in that book - you don't really need to read the other book to read this though. I was so hooked on this book when I came back in from Lost and Found ( read about that here) at like 4am I would sit up reading this for another hour! She doesn't pick her topics lightly the book is essentially about child molestation in Germany and starts off with a dead body being found of a young girl who had been sexually abused. When you think you have this book sussed out she throws in another plot twist. The book has a few different plots and characters that run along side together and throughout the book start to intertwine and like I said you think you know whose who and whose the baddies and what's happened but you just have no idea sometimes. She kinda drops little hints here or there. If you're not shy of these kinda topics I definitely recommend this book, she has a new one out in hardback so I'll wait for the paperback copy and get that ASAP. I wish more of her books were translated over because I think there are around 7 books in this series in German and I just want to read them all! 
Have you read this? Or 'Snow White must die' ? What did you think?  I'm still quite new at book reviews so if you have any tips let me know! :)
Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book: Berlin Street Style

I remember buying this book last year before I went home to make a perfect beach read. I had been lusting after ' Paris street style' for some time and well....I saw the leopard print next to it and picked up this one instead. ( initially I put it back trying to be good but got mild palpitations in the costa inside that someone else was going to take it and bought it!......mild shopping problem?.... me?)  Anyway it was worth it! This book is packed full of tips and tricks; how to style yourself for the day( those daily essentials...) for certain events and even tips on styling your home. It even has tips on how to dress for your yoga class! It's got beauty tips and tips for where to shop, eat, stay and drink if you ever venture to Berlin. The book has got some great photography and illustrations and Angelika has a great writing style - she makes it really feel like she is talking to you! Have you ever read this book? What do you think of it?  Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book: The Rosie Effect

This book is the sequel to ' The Rosie project' which was a great first novel by Graeme Simsion so SPOILERS( I guess?) if you haven't read that. Though I'm sure like most Rom-coms you can predict the ending that Don and Rosie end up together.  The Rosie effect (which I won't lie I wish he had called ' The baby project' instead...anyone else?) is basically what happens when Rosie and Don move to America and Rosie finds out she's pregnant. If you read the first novel you know Don is all about structure and rules so he basically tries to implement this to Rosie while pregnant. Due to Don's nature he doesn't tend to show excitement and instead devises the baby project where he tracks the babys progress and researches the best way to look after it while in the room( I.e what Rosie should be eating...). Rosie now becoming a mother starts to realise how Don's introvert personality may affect his father skills and starts to see him as unfit. You basically see how Don copes with trying to learn how to be a father which put him in some interesting situations and how he copes with the possibility of loosing Rosie whilst trying to be a good friend. - I hope I didn't give much away there?  There is something so genuine and lovely about Don you can't help but feel for him throughout this book. I really love the way Graeme has created in such detail his personality and traits. Overall if you loved the first you're gonna love the second. It's a great sequel and although the general ending is predictable Graeme puts Don in some pretty funny situations. It's a great light read if you don't want something too heavy.  Have you read this?  Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Book: Eat Pray Love

I was thinking today.... many a post ago, I said I was going to start book reviews.... where did that go? Anyway I thought I wanna jump back on the bandwagon, so here I am! I am an absolute bookworm and I feel I should share this love with you all. There is something about getting lost in someone else's life and escaping your own that I just love.  A life I love to jump into the most? Elizabeth Gilberts! I LOVE like really love eat, pray, love. It's so inspiring how much she turns her life around from this bitter divorce and destructive relationship and goes after what she wants and hey! - who wouldn't want to go round Italy for 4 months eating all the pizza and pasta they want? I adore her writing style, I watched one of her interviews and she said she always aims her books at one of her friends. I think she really accomplishes this it also really inspires how I write on this blog and each post. I really do feel like a friend is talking to me and telling me all her inner secrets. The way she talks about each of the characters she introduces to you just makes you feel like you get them.  In the story she essentially starts in america and introduces how this all came to be, her divorce and realising she didn't want to be married, her relationship with a younger man that introduced her to yoga and the break up from that. She then goes to Italy for 4 months, India for 4 months and Bali for 4 months. In Italy she divulges in her love for all things Italian - the food and the language. In India she learns discipline and how to reach her inner self and finally in Bali she learns to love herself and well, I'm sure you guessed this part and to allow someone else to fall in love with her.  This book is an amazing pick me up, only slight downfall, and I mean slight is that it makes me want to pack up and travel which sadly isn't on the cards. I recently lent this to a friend from a bad break up for inspiration that no matter how hard life is you need to learn to love yourself and appreciate and go for what you want before you can let someone else in and let them truly love you. She hasn't finished the book it has 108 'chapters' before you gasp and think that's a lot they aren't big chapters. I also really love how she matched this to the 108 mala beads. Oh - slightly off track there, she hasn't finished the book but texted me and told me she was sobbing on the train because it was so relatable to her.  You should also watch her Ted talk Elizabeth is such an inspiring and refreshing person and if you hadn't read this book? go and get it!  If you have read it tell me what you think! Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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