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Nostell Priory
Since we just renewed our National Trust memberships, and it’s been a while since we went for a walk anywhere, we decided to stay close and go to Nostell Priory. We took a picnic with us which we ate in the car before our walk (still slightly too cold for eating outside!), then went for a walk around the lake at Nostell Priory. There’s a few different walking routes around the grounds, so we’ll probably go back and explore some more later in the year! By the time we’d finished, we were just ready for a nice cup of tea and a big slab of cake, rounding off a pretty awesome day!
While we were there, we picked up a big map of England with all the National Trust places marked on it, so we’re going to try and get to as many as possible this year! Not quite as grand as exploring the world, but much cheaper and still extremely fun!
Nostell Priory
Nostell Priory
Cameron at Nostell Priory
Me and Cameron at Nostell Priory
Goose at Nostell Priory
Nostell Priory
Cameron at Nostell Priory
Nostell Priory
Nostell Priory
Courtyard at Nostell Priory
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Veronica Roth – Divergent
I had high hopes for this book after hearing a lot of positive reviews and I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed. It had a lot to live up to after being mentioned many times as the next Hunger Games, a series which I absolutely loved, but I think if it’s possible, I may love this one more.The main premise of the book is a future world split into five factions: Abnegation; the selfless, Candor; the truthful, Erudite; the knowledgable, Amity; the kind, and Dauntless; the brave. As a child, you grow up in the same faction as your parents, but at age sixteen, you get to choose which faction will be your place for the rest of your life, possibly leaving your family behind forever. Before you make this choice, you take an aptitude test which tells you which faction is most suited for you, but when Beatrice takes this test, she somehow manages to break the simulation. The woman administering her test tells Beatrice that she is Divergent, not fitting to any of the factions, and that she should never ever tell anyone.
I don’t want to go any further into the plot, because I don’t want to spoil this for any of you who may want to read it yourself, and I really would recommend that you do. But the book follows Beatrice to her newly chosen faction and through the initiation process, with it being imperative that she passes so that she doesn’t end factionless.
The book didn’t pull any punches, leaving nothing out in describing the fear that Beatrice is feeling every step of the way. We get to see her learning the ways of her new faction, while trying not to miss her family, and wondering what it means to be divergent. I felt every bit of fear and uncertainty that Beatrice was feeling, I felt so connected to the character that there were times when it was all I could do not to cry out at what I was reading.
The book sets up very nicely for book number two, Insurgent. I made a special trip to WH Smiths yesterday to buy it, I couldn’t wait for it to be delivered from Amazon, I need to read it now, like right now.
I’ll leave you with my favourite quote from the book, it really stood out to me:
“I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”
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Samantha Hayes – Until You’re Mine
Heavily pregnant and with twin four year old boys to look after, the last thing Claudia needs is a navy husband about to be deployed on a covert mission. So the couple decide to hire a nanny, in the form of Zoe. She impresses them at her interview and she seems to be great with the boys, but Claudia keeps noticing weird little things and is suspicious about Zoe’s real purpose for being in the house. And so the book begins from there, we switch back and forth between the narrative of three characters; Claudia, Zoe and a police detective called Lorraine who is currently heading up an investigation into the murders of pregnant women. Weirdly, (but not so weirdly later), when we switch between the characters, there’s never any announcement of which character we are on now, we just figure it out from what is happening. At first, I couldn’t see the purpose of Lorraine, but this was all revealed pretty quickly, bringing a chilling, creeping kind of horror to what I was reading.
You would probably come to the same conclusion as me, that because we are following the investigation of these pregnant women who have been murdered, and because we are also following the slightly creepy arrival of the new nanny into a house with a heavily pregnant woman, that the two are going to link together nicely and you know exactly what is going to happen. But whatever you think, you will be wrong. I’ve read many books with a plot twist, but none as shocking as this one.
The book itself was absolutely thrilling, I was gripped throughout. And even though I was convinced I knew what was going to happen, I had to keep turning the pages to find out. And then BAM, plot twist comes along and everything I thought I knew was turned completely on it’s head. But then I thought back on everything I’d read and it made perfect sense. Bravo to the author, I couldn’t have thought of a more thrilling end to a superb book!
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Eric Church and The Cadillac Three at The Ritz, Manchester
For Christmas, Cameron bought me tickets to see Eric Church at the Ritz in Manchester. Since it had been a while since we went away anywhere, we decided to get a hotel in the centre of Manchester and have the weekend away. Living in England, there’s not much opportunity to see country music played live, so I was incredibly excited to see one of my favourites, Eric Church, live for the first time!
I didn’t expect it to be too busy, but when we got to the venue 45 minutes before doors opened, the queue was already snaking around the corner. And by the time that The Cadillac Three came on stage, the venue was absolutely packed with hardly any room to even move to the bar. The variety of people in attendance was quite surprising too, people of all ages and who looked from all different social backgrounds coming together for a good time.
I’d never heard of The Cadillac Three before, but they were awesome. They definitely amped the crowd up and I came away from the venue and immediately started looking for their music online.
Which brings us to the main act. What can I say. Simply terrific. I would probably say that he was better live than on his CDs, simply due to the way that he interacted with the crowd and had us all joining in. I think he was quite surprised that people sang along to every single one of his songs, even the new album which has only just come out.
I have to say, it was one of the best gigs I’ve been to. Superb. If you’ve not heard either Eric Church or The Cadillac Three, you should definitely check them out.
View from our hotel room
Manchester City Centre
The Cadillac Three
The Cadillac Three
Eric Church
Eric Church
Eric Church -
Harriet Jacobs – Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Wow, to say this book was hard to read would be a massive understatement. I saw it as a free book on the Kindle bookstore, I would imagine it probably made it into the top 100 due to the success of 12 Years a Slave, which I have bought but have yet to read. And if it is as brutal as this was, I think I’ll be in for a tough time.I think the part that made the book most harrowing was that it was written in first person, but it was so matter of fact. Without having lived through the times of slavery, it’s hard to even begin to understand the brutality of the time, especially now when anything of this sort just wouldn’t be allowed to happen.
But for the people who lived through it, it was their life and they had to get through, one way or another. As Jacobs explains in the book, kicking up a fuss or trying to escape from a brutish master would have such consequences that I can hardly bear to write them here, just reading about it was bad enough. Needless to say, if you were a slave, you were your master’s property to treat as he wished, whether that meant beating, flogging, or even death if your master was in that mood.
Being an autobiography, the book focuses mainly on the treatment of female slaves and the indecencies that they were subjected to as part of daily life. We live with the author as she tries to keep her children safe and to escape from her master without endangering any of her family and friends, not an easy business living in the deep south in these times. And escape to the North may have sounded like a dream when you were in the South, but when you get there it’s not all it cracked up to be, and the author spends her time there constantly looking over her shoulder for anyone who might recognise her and send her back.
But the book ends for the author with freedom, her and her children are free from their masters and from the life that she thought would be her lot, and was the pitiful existence for so many in that time.
While I was reading, I had to keep reminding myself that this was real, that these things did actually happen. Some of the stories the author tells are so nightmarish that you can’t imagine a human being would be capable of such cruelty, never mind that it would be the way of life for an entire country.
After reading this book, I can’t decide whether I’m looking forward to reading 12 Years a Slave or not. I know now that it’s going to be very hard to read, but I am quite interested to get a different perspective and to learn more about what happened just 150 years ago.
I’m giving the book 3/5, not because the writing was bad or because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it was so hard to read that I don’t think it’s a book that I’d seek out to read again for a long time yet. If you’re interested in learning more about american history and slavery, I would recommend the book as very enlightening, but don’t be under any illusions, it’s going to be a hard read.
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Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
I honestly had no idea what to expect from this book, I only really bought it because I saw a poster for the film and I thought that if I was going to see the film, I’d rather read the book first. What I didn’t expect was a book which would take me on a journey leading to me sitting at my desk on my lunch break reading the final few chapters and trying not to cry (and failing miserably).
I’m not going to talk about the plot, because there’s a lot that happens and I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you if you want to read this book (and you really, really should).
The book was quite unusual, in that it was narrated by death. When I read this on the blurb, I thought it might be strange, and it was at first, but then it made perfect sense. I loved the main character Liesel and how we see the war through her childlike innocence, with that innocence slowly being eroded away as the war encroaches on her world and becomes more personal to her. The relationships between Liesel and Max, Liesel and Rudy, and Liesel and her Papa were precious, and the way that Zusak developed them through the story was genius.
I loved how ‘death’ kept giving you glimpses throughout the book as to what was coming at the end, seemingly to soften the blow. Not soft enough though. Obviously with the book being set in the war, you know there’s most likely going to be some horrific things happening. But because the novel is so well written, you feel like you are along for the journey with Liesel, and every heartache that she feels, you feel too.
I can’t really say any more without turning into a gushing idiot, I absolutely loved this book and I can’t really say anything else but that. If you’ve already read the book, you probably know what I’m saying, and if you haven’t read it, get out there and do it. Right now. You won’t regret it.
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Jana DeLeon – Trouble in Mudbug
I’ve had this book on my kindle for absolutely ages, but for some reason it has never really caught my eye enough to read it. But since I read another Jana DeLeon book last month and quite liked it, I thought I might as well give this a try too.Maryse is a scientist working out on the bayou, carrying out investigations into the plant-life on the bayou. But her life is turned upside down by two things, firstly her mother-in-law dies. Maryse was actually not too heart-broken at this, until she sees Helena rising up from her coffin at the funeral, and she realises that she is the only person who can see the ghost of her hateful mother-in-law, who apparently finds it quite fun to trail Maryse everywhere she goes.
Secondly, a ‘zoologist’ called Luc LeJuene turns up in Maryse’s office, claiming he has been sent by the state to work with her temporarily, but it looks like all may not be as it seems, and Maryse is very wary about letting him in on her (very secret) investigations.
We then end up on a slightly comedic journey with Maryse as she tries to figure out who killed Maryse and avoid getting killed herself, all while trying to avoid the attentions of Luc, until she can figure out what his game is.
I found the book quite fun, although many parts were pretty predictable. Saying that, Jana managed to slip in a few twists to keep things interesting. The character of Maryse’s mother-in-law Helena provided most of the fun for the story, trying to adjust to living in limbo, neither dead or alive. I liked Maryse’s character too, but just couldn’t get on with Luc until about three quarters of the way through the book, when more of his life is finally revealed to us.
I can see that this book is actually the first in a series, but I don’t know where the next books would go from here, with most parts of the plot tied up quite neatly, but some left wide open. I don’t think I liked the book enough to splash out on the next one just yet, especially with a ‘to-read’ pile high enough to take me to the moon!
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Denise Grover Swank – Thirty One and a Half Regrets
Oh my goodness! This book was ridiculously thrilling!We start the book 5 weeks after Joe left, and Rose is finally starting to feel better. She still misses Joe, but it’s not long all consuming, and she’s getting back to a semblance of normal life. Well, kind of. She’s hardly speaking to her sister Violet, who was the main reason she had to give up on her relationship with Joe. And for some reason, Bruce Wayne has stopped turning up to work to help her with her landscaping jobs, which has Rose very worried since she doesn’t want him to break his parole and end up back in jail.
Mason is being the most patient man, sticking true to his promise to give her as long as she needs to get over Joe, saying he’ll wait as long as she needs.
Apart from that, everything seems to be going comparatively okay for Rose, until two bad things happen in one day to completely flip her life upside down. First, she gets the news that Daniel Crocker has escaped from prison, and since she was the one that put him there, and she knows that he holds a grudge, that puts the fear in her. Then, she has to contend with Joe coming back into town on a campaign stop to give her business a $200,000 small business grant, although she’s pretty sure that it’s all a stunt organised by Joe’s dad.
Although at least it gives her chance for two things. Firstly, she can tell Joe once and for all that their relationship does not and will never have a future. Secondly, she finally realises that she’s ready to move on and think about exploring a relationship with Mason.
Which seems like it will be great, until Rose wakes up one morning to her bed covered in rose petals, leading in a trail to her living room, with the sofa covered in ketchup in a replication of the scene of where Crocker murdered Rose’s mother.
Rose has to get away, and quickly. She’s taken into witness protection, firstly to the Henryetta police safe house, which turns out not to be so safe. She then ends up holed up in her birth mother’s farm house with Mason, who has also now been threatened by Crocker.
But it seems like this safe house may not be too safe either, with Mason convinced that there’s a leak within the Sheriff’s department. But can they find the leak before it’s too late? We end up on a thrilling journey with Rose and Mason as they try desperately to keep away from the clutches of Crocker and his cronies.
I know I said I couldn’t put down the other books in this series, but by George this was in another league. I was gripped from start to finish and I swear the adrenaline was pumping as if I was there with Rose and Mason.
I found the ending quite unexpected, with help coming from the most unusual place. But the decisions that Rose made definitely made me smile, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I can’t believe the next in the series isn’t released until June, I don’t know that I can wait that long!
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Denise Grover Swank – Falling to Pieces
I was in two minds whether to review this or not, with it only being a novella, not a full novel. But since I’m reviewing the other four books in the series, I might as well go for the full set!The book really was quite short, and much of the first half was a repeat of the end of the last book, just with a little bit more of the characters emotions in. We switch back and forth between Rose and Joe, so we can see both their sides of the story, but I did think the book was going to be a bit pointless until about halfway through when the plot progressed further than the end of the previous story.
I had thought that since we would see the story from Joe’s perspective, I might feel a bit more empathy towards his struggles in making such a difficult decision. And while I could see that it pained him to do so, I still felt like he was a bit spineless. OK, his father is a very powerful man, but Joe isn’t a puppet, and would his father really destroy his life if he doesn’t do what he wants?
What I did feel was a complete heartbreak for poor Rose. She’s only ever been in love once, and it has all ended so dramatically after just four months, and it has to hurt that the main reason that it’s over is to protect her sister. Her sister who seems to have crossed some sort of line and doesn’t have Rose’s back anymore, constantly niggling away at her self confidence like her brutish mother used to do. But Rose is a good person, so she could never risk her sister being hurt in the way that Joe’s father intends.
I do wonder why this was released as a novella instead of just the start of book four, unless the author hadn’t originally intended to write book four. It seems like it could have just been the opening to the new story. But who knows what book four will bring, only time will tell!
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Denise Grover Swank – Thirty and a Half Excuses
I just can’t put this series down, the author has written a series that is a complete page turner, thrilling and exciting and unpredictable. We return to Henryetta a few months after the end of the last book, and in the meantime, Rose has been setting up the flower shop/nursery with her sister Violet. They’re running the shop as equal partners, but since Rose was a million dollars by her birth mother, she’s invested the most money in the shop, several hundred thousand dollars in fact.
Not that you would think it with the way that Violet is treating Rose, with little hurtful comments and constantly belittling her in front of her friends. And when we find out that the word around town is that Rose stole Violet’s inheritance and is forcing Violet to work for her. And what is worse is that Violet has heard these rumours and has not bothered to set the record straight. Which is not exactly the sisterly thing to do. But Violet seems to have some kind of secret, and it looks like Rose might need to figure out what it is before she can get back on good terms with her sister.
But this is all a sideshow to the main event. A new church has moved into town, headed by the televangelist Jonah Pruitt. Rose’s boyfriend Joe is just about to go on an undercover mission I’m his job for the state police, but before he goes, he warns Rose that she should be careful of Reverend Pruitt. And it turns out that that’s not the only warning Joe gave before he left, having warned the assistant DA Mason Deveraux to stay away from Rose too. Which doesn’t go down too well with Rose when she finds out, since Mason is one of only a few friends that hasn’t run for the hills when he found out about Rose’s visions.
But maybe Joe was right to try and keep Mason away, it seems like he may want to be more than just friends. And there seems to be some history between Mason and Joe which neither of them wants to talk about.
Rose continues her journey of maturation throughout this book, she’s still becoming more confident about herself, and the friends that she has made have made her much happier. Plus, it looks like she might actually leave well alone when her neighbour dies, supposedly of natural causes. But she hasn’t changed that much, and inevitably ends up more involved than she would ever have wanted!
I’m not going to spoil the end of the book, but I actually found myself quite upset about what happened. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, and I think I can probably tell what will happen next, but maybe I’ll be proved wrong, we’ll see!
My only one complaint about the book is Rose’s constant USD of the phrase ‘crappy doodles’ whenever something bad happens or doesn’t go quite to plan. I know she’s supposed to be an innocent southern belle, but ‘crappy doodles’ just sounds silly to me!
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 