Friday 31 March 2017

Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins


Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? {goodreads summary}


Anna and the French Kiss is a fun, fast read that will have you researching French hotels and Eurostar prices as soon as you reach the last page.

“French name, English accent, American school. Anna confused.”

The last thing Anna wants is to be sent half way around the world to complete her senior year, in a school where everyone has already known each other for three years and a country where she doesn't speak the language. But 

“I wish friends held hands more often, like the children I see on the streets sometimes. I'm not sure why we have to grow up and get embarrassed about it.”

This novel is really cute. It reminded me a bit of Dairy of a Crush in terms of how I felt about the characters and the ups and downs of the romantic plot line. 

“I mean, really. Who sends their kid to boarding school? It's so Hogwarts. Only mine doesn't have cute boy wizards or magic candy or flying lessons.”

My favourite thing about this novel was definitely the setting: Perkins brings Paris to life through her narrative and the setting is fundamental to the plot throughout. 

“How many times can our emotions be tied to someone else's - be pulled and stretched and twisted - before they snap? Before they can never be mended again?” 


Anna is the first book in a trilogy and I'm really keen to read the rest when I get a chance. 

Wednesday 29 March 2017

Mother's Day Reading


This Mother's day I was "lucky" enough to get some lovely gifts. I've put the lucky in inverted commas because my kids are 2 and a half, and 9 weeks old, so I knew exactly what I was getting as I'd picked them myself and sent my husband the links!

Mary Berry Everyday is my second Berry cookbook and now proudly sits alongside my much loved and often used Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which is easily the best recipe book I own. I love cooking and baking, so I've acquired quite a large collection of recipe books now. Some seem to end up just being for show (Crumb and The Weekend Baker have only been used once each so far) but I've already picked out three recipes from this one to try next week, so I think it's going to be a great addition. 

I'm halfway through the Unmumsy Mum Diary at the moment and have laughed out loud more times than I can keep track of. Turner is a brilliant writer and is superb at telling stories in hilarious ways. I'm only concerned that I'm looking slightly into the future, to when my two start interacting - and therefore bickering and fighting - with each other. 

I also received the blu-ray of Fantastic Beasts, which isn't in the picture as it was released the day after Mother's day). I didn't manage to see Fantastic Beasts in the cinema as I was seven months pregnant when it came out and didn't fancy being sat down for that long without a toilet break, so Monday was my first time getting to watch it. Although, I did know the plot as I picked up a copy of the screenplay in Minalima when I went to see the Cursed Child (which I saw in November, despite being seven months pregnant and having to walk up a lot of stairs!) I read a lot of plays, but FB was the first film script I'd ever read and I kept expecting the film itself to deviate from it in some way then had to remind myself that they wouldn't be any different (baby brain!). The special effects were superb and I'm already looking forward to watching it again.

I think I organised quite a successful, bookish Mother's Day for myself; however, I'm looking forward to the first year when I don't have to pick my own gifts even more! 

Friday 17 March 2017

Skin Deep Chapter One: Little Town



Beau scrunched up his eyes in stubborn denial of the sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window. It couldn’t possibly be morning yet. He’d only come to bed a few minutes ago after an extremely undignified fight with a stubborn hen who refused to return to the barn. His eyes had been closed for five seconds, tops. He hadn’t even been out long enough to dream.

The shrill cry of a cockerel blasted through the thin walls of the country house Beau and his family had moved to last year, confirming that it was, indeed morning. The cockerel’s mischief-making mate was no doubt pea-cocking around the barn in celebration at her victory; Beau had once again had no rest and she would soon be back in the open air, harassing the horses and keeping the other birds in line. 

Admitting defeat, Beau groaned and threw back his threadbare blanket. The novel he had hoped - in vain - to finish last night lay untouched on the nightstand. Beau looked at it wistfully before getting up. He splashed some cold water on his face and torso from the pitcher in the corner of his room, avoiding his no doubt exhausted reflection in the cracked mirror hung in front of it, then pulled on a clean shirt and pair of trousers and headed through to the small family kitchen. 

It was neat, but compact. Hardly big enough for the seven person family who had to squeeze around its worn oak table for meals three times a day. Two baguettes remained on the counter from yesterday and Beau fired up the aga before sprinkling them with a little water and putting them on to heat. He filled the tarnished copper kettle to the brim with water and placed it on the hob, leaving it to boil while he attended to the house’s animal occupants. 

The farm animals’ feed was kept in a cosy store beside the back door and Beau refilled the buckets with a yawn, making a mental note to head into town later to purchase more feed. Their supplies were dwindling yet again. 

“Come on then, Hellions,” he called out cheerfully as he entered the barn. “Breakfast time!” He flung the doors wide open, allowing the animals access to the small but well maintained farmyard beside the house. As he’d predicted, the hen who had caused him so much trouble last night was the first through the door. She nipped his boot affectionately before helping herself to the feed that he had started to scatter around the yard. 

“Good morning, nuisance,” he told her with a fond smile. “Who are you going to terrorise this morning?” As if in answer to his question, the hen took off across the yard, chasing down another hen who had brazenly attempted to approach the cockerel. The morning was fresh, but dry; the sun that had woken Beau gleamed down on the yard, illuminating the dew coated spider webs. 

Once the animals were fed and watered, Beau returned to the kitchen where the kettle was whistling merrily. He took it off the hob and started making tea. Once he was done, he took the bread from the aga and put it in the centre of the table with a small slab of butter, an almost empty pot of homemade jam and seven plates. It was a meagre breakfast, but there was nothing that could be done about that. Milk, at least, was plentiful, having been provided by the family’s cow yesterday. Milking her would be his next job for the morning, once he’d had something to eat. 

Beau rang the brass bell by the door before taking his place at the table, tearing off a chunk of the warm bread and biting into it. He left the butter and the jam untouched. 

He was halfway through his breakfast when the rest of his family appeared. His father looked grateful as always. He was moving stiffly today; the injured leg that prevented him from helping Beau to run the farm must have been causing him more trouble due to the growing coldness of the weather. Beau made a mental note to put a hot water pan in his bed tonight. His three younger sisters - Rose, Clara and Estelle - took their seats with fond smiles in his direction, although tiny Rose struggled to hide her dismay at how little food was on offer. Her tiny bottom lip quivered as their eldest brother, Louis, seized the last of the jam, slathering it over his own disproportionately large chunk of bread without a thought for the others. Gabriel took an equally uneven portion, throwing Beau a look of disgust as he spread crumbs all over the table. 

“Is this all there is?” He complained loudly. 

“I’m not a magician, Gabe,” Beau replied, tearing off some of his remaining bread and handing it to Rose, who had already finished her own portion and was looking around hungrily. “I can’t fashion breakfast from thin air.”

“What about the eggs you collected yesterday?” Louis grunted, pouring himself another cup of tea. 

“I’m taking them into town to sell so that I can put breakfast on the table tomorrow morning.” Beau struggled to keep his tone even as he spoke to his brothers. 

“Get some croissants,” Gabe demanded. Rose and Clara’s eyes lit up, but Beau shook his head. 

“Do you have any idea how much they cost? It’s croissants for three of us, or bread for all.”

Louis laughed, tipping his head back so that his brown curls fell away from his eyes. “So long as I get to eat, I don’t care.”

Gabe, meanwhile, was glaring at their father, his green eyes glowing. “I miss the town. We were never hungry once we finished breakfast there.”

Louis laughed once more. “Only hungry for another eyeful of that maid. What was her name again? The one that always bought you extra pastries?”

Gabe shrugged, grinning. “As if I bothered to learn her name. I was too busy staring at her-”

“Gabe!” Beau admonished, cutting across him with a pointed glance towards the younger girls. 

Gabe shrugged him off, getting to his feet. At six foot, he barely fit under the kitchen ceiling. “If there’s nothing else to eat, I’m going back to bed.” Louis sloshed down his cup of tea, letting the cup crash back to the table with a loud belch before following his brother out of the room. 

“Do you need any help this morning, Beau?” Grey-eyed Estelle, the eldest of his sisters, though still Beau’s junior by four years, asked once their elder brothers had left. 

Beau hated delegating jobs to his sisters, who should have been playing with dolls and teddy bears instead of working on a farm. He shook his head, ruffling Rose’s strawberry blonde hair fondly. 

“I’ve got it, thanks. You three should go outside and play. There’s not much nice weather left this year; make the most of it.”

“You’re sure?” Estelle checked, although her eyes glanced hopefully towards the door.

“Of course.”

With identical grins, the three girls rose and headed outside, where their excited cries and chatter soon filled the air. 

Beau’s father looked at him and sighed. “I’m sorry-“ he began, but Beau cut across him. 

“Ignore them. They’re brutes. It’s not your fault that storm destroyed all of your ships. And I think we’re doing French society a favour by keeping Gabriel and Louis tucked away here where they can’t do as much damage. You don’t need to apologise to me for anything.”

“Except the loss of your happiness,” his father gazed towards the door as he spoke, where the girls could still be heard playing joyfully. 

Beau shrugged. “I wasn’t really any happier in town.”

“Too busy dreaming of adventure?” His father asked, smiling. 

Beau sighed. “I just want something… more than this. Not that I even know what it is I’m looking for.”

“If anyone deserves to live out their dreams, Beau, it’s you. I only hope I can somehow give you the opportunity to escape this place.”

Beau smiled sadly at his father before getting to his feet to clear the breakfast things away. Adventure. Escape. Those were dreams for someone without six other hungry mouths to provide for. Beau knew that he would be stuck on this farm for the rest of his life, his books the closest to adventure he was ever going to get. 

To keep reading, make sure you follow me on Wattpad and add Skin Deep to your reading list. Updates every Friday.


Friday 10 March 2017

Skin Deep: one week to go

To celebrate there being only one week to go until I post the first chapter of my Beauty and the Beast retelling and the release of the new film, today I am sharing the Wattpad cover art and the first few paragraphs!

A tale as old as time with a rather different twist. When Beau's father steals a cursed rose from the garden of a terrifying beast, Beau bravely offers to take his father's place in servitude. 
Cursed to appear in the form that will terrify the beholder most,  Brielle doesn't know what to make of the new addition to her castle.
But the pair slowly learn that there is more to the other than meets the eye. After all, beauty is only skin deep.


Beau scrunched up his eyes in stubborn denial of the sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window. It couldn’t possibly be morning yet. He’d only come to bed a few minutes ago after an extremely undignified fight with a stubborn hen who refused to return to the barn. His eyes had been closed for five seconds, tops. He hadn’t even been out long enough to dream.

The shrill cry of a cockerel blasted through the thin walls of the country house Beau and his family had moved to last year, confirming that it was, indeed morning. The cockerel’s mischief-making mate was no doubt pea-cocking around the barn in celebration at her victory; Beau had once again had no rest and she would soon be back in the open air, harassing the horses and keeping the other birds in line. 

Admitting defeat, Beau groaned and threw back his threadbare blanket. The novel he had hoped - in vain - to finish last night lay untouched on the nightstand. Beau looked at it wistfully before getting up. He splashed some cold water on his face and torso from the pitcher in the corner of his room, avoiding his no doubt exhausted reflection in the cracked mirror hung in front of it, then pulled on a clean shirt and pair of trousers and headed through to the small family kitchen. 


What do you think? You'll be able to read Skin Deep on my blog and over at Wattpad. I will post the rest of the first chapter next Friday, so check back then to meet the rest of Beau's family.