Books, General

Book Box Club | Unboxing May 2018

Liz Whitehouse

Welcome back to Liz unboxes things! Yep, I am finally getting around to posting unboxing Book Box Club crates from months ago that frankly are too good to deserve such a shamefully long time between delivery and review, but here we are anyway! I recently reviewed April’s Fallen Angels box, the first I received, and it was really great. I signed up for a single month subscription with the absolute thought that I’d probably cancel it. Now, this isn’t because the box isn’t great – it really it – but rather because I am trying to reduce the amount I am spending ahead of holidays in the second half of the year. The I saw the theme and decided that I absolutely had to have it…

Book Box Club is a secret society YA subscription box that is sent monthly and features a specially selected, hot-off-the-press YA book release selected by the ladies in the know and owners Libby and Kate. The box features 4-6 specially curated bookish items, is wrapped beautifully and delivered reliably on time, and features an exclusive ‘Clubhouse’ invite to chat with the author whose book features in the box.

Theme: Stargazers Continue reading “Book Box Club | Unboxing May 2018” →

Books, General

Spellslinger | Review

Liz Whitehouse

Title: Spellslinger

Author: Sebastian de Castell

Rating: 3 Stars

Dates read: 08 Apr 18 – 02 Jun 18

Publication date: 04 May 2017

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Genre(s): YA; Fantasy

Description:

MAGIC IS A CON GAME . . . 

Kellen is moments away from facing his first mage’s duel and the start of four trials that will make him a spellcaster. There’s just one problem: his magic is gone.

As his sixteenth birthday approaches, Kellen falls back on his cunning in a bid to avoid total disgrace. But when a daring stranger arrives in town, she challenges Kellen to take a different path.

Ferius Parfax is one of the mysterious Argosi – a traveller who lives by her wits and the three decks of cards she carries. She’s difficult and unpredictable, but she may be Kellen’s only hope . . . Continue reading “Spellslinger | Review” →

Books, General

The Full Monte Read-Along: Week Two/Chapters 21-40

Liz Whitehouse

Well hello there and welcome back to The Full Monte read-along. Last week, we were introduced to some of the main men in the game, and left our reading on a cliff-hanger, so what has happened this week? Well, I’ll tell you what, lots of things that stopped me reading the book as fast as I should, and in the book, well lots of things that have caused a significant decline in how much I like it. Suddenly, I am aware that this is a loooooooong book, but, hopefully this is a blip and things will get interesting again real soon.

I’ve signed up to take part in The Full Monte Read-Along hosted by Laura @ Reading in Bed. We’re all joining together to read/weight lift this French bad-boy, and post about it every Monday, sharing lots of insightful stupid, serious funny, and important irrelevant aspects and thoughts on the week’s ‘assigned’ reading. You can follow my ‘progress’ through my Goodreads and this handily coded spreadsheet that changes colour when I have actually done what I am supposed to.

*warning* spoilers for The Count of Monte Cristo ahead. Continue reading “The Full Monte Read-Along: Week Two/Chapters 21-40” →

Books, General

Book Box Club | Unboxing April 2018

Liz Whitehouse

Guys, I did a thing and signed up to another subscription because my Wizarding World Loot Crate and Willoughby Book Club ones are about to run out and I decided that I wanted to sign up to something. I had a bit of a hunt round and after thinking about it and doing some research, I opted for Libby and Kate’s secret society. The ethos is right up my street and it includes some awesome things. It’s also based in the UK which is handy for me as shipping costs put me off many box subscriptions, and the previous boxes looked awesome!

Yes, this says April, because I am super behind with things like reviews and I need to sort that out. So here, have an unboxing of a super awesome box. *Psst* Libby and Kate pack these boxes so prettily!!

Book Box Club is a secret society YA subscription box that is sent monthly and features a specially selected, hot-off-the-press YA book release selected by the ladies in the know and owners Libby and Kate. The box features 4-6 specially curated bookish items, is wrapped beautifully and delivered reliably on time, and features an exclusive ‘Clubhouse’ invite to chat with the author whose book features in the box.

Theme: Fallen Angels Continue reading “Book Box Club | Unboxing April 2018” →

Fat Friday, General

Fat Friday: Week 41

Liz Whitehouse

I’m not going to lie to you folks, I haven’t missed this rain and I am very ready for a couple of days off after what has been a tiring week. I’m not going to be posting a long one today, sometimes short and sweet is the best way to go and what we have time for!

I had this written for Friday, but The Killers ran a lot later than expected, so it’s a little late posting, sorry guys!

Fat Friday is a weekly blog post tracking my weight loss and fitness journey, used to keep myself accountable, keep a record of my progress, and share hints & tips that have helped me. To track my progress, or read my previous entries, click here.

Please join me, support me, and help me along my way as I aim to improve my life for the better! Continue reading “Fat Friday: Week 41” →

Books, General

Tome Topple 6 Wrap

Liz Whitehouse

Good day one, good day all, and welcome back. Can you believe it has already been two weeks since Tome Topple finished? No, me neither. I can’t believe that it’s flown by so quickly, but what a fortnight eh? I read quite a bit, I burned the heck out of some candles, and I fought the heat nobly to lift and carry such heavy chunks of a book, so I’m pretty please with how my readathon went, how did you do?

Tome Topple is a two week readathon created by Sam aka Thoughts on Tomes and this time the readathon is taking place from midnight in your timezone on 29th June until 11:59pm on 12th July. The aim of this readathon is to read big books, aka books over 500 pages aka “tomes”, so unlike many readathon, it’s about the number of pages in a book rather than the quantity of books you manage to finish over the fortnight. Want more information? You can watch Sam’s announcement video or check out the readathon Twitter page and/or the Goodreads group. Continue reading “Tome Topple 6 Wrap” →

Books, General

The Full Monte Read-Along: Week One/Chapters 1-20

Liz Whitehouse

Bonjour et bienvenue sur le post du Comte de Monte Cristo. Don’t worry though guys, I haven’t google transalted the whole sha-bang, I wanted to show you just how INTO THIS FRENCH BOOK I AM. I’m not even being sarcastic. I’m sitting watching Manic Monday at Wimbledon (I just thought it was called middle Monday, who came up with this crazy moniker and tried to make it a thing?) trying to think of clever and insightful commentary on chapters 1-20 of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and, *spoiler alert* I ain’t got none, so sit back and expect lots of stupidity, gifs, and nonsense (hopefully all enjoyable of course).

I’ve signed up to take part in The Full Monte Read-Along hosted by Laura @ Reading in Bed. We’re all joining together to read/weight lift this French bad-boy, and post about it every Monday, sharing lots of insightful stupid, serious funny, and important irrelevant aspects and thoughts on the week’s ‘assigned’ reading. You can follow my ‘progress’ through my Goodreads and this handily coded spreadsheet that changes colour when I have actually done what I am supposed to.

*warning* spoilers for The Count of Monte Cristo ahead

Continue reading “The Full Monte Read-Along: Week One/Chapters 1-20” →