Warbreaker

By Brandon Sanderson. 

Narrated by James Yaegashi.

[Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be

princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser

god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying

to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their

world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to

live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and

where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an

essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a

time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon

the colour in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and

mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable

quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna

and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong,

reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the

Warbreaker.]

It's strange, I work with audiobooks every day and, yet, it took a friend recommending Audible to me before I actually gave it a go and started listening to them.

I wasn't sure if I'd get on with them at all and initially it was a struggle (you have to concentrate on listening attentively, blocking out any unnecessary mind-wandering or reading of texts, etc, otherwise you'll probably realise you have no idea what just happened and have to go back a minute or so!) 

But, now, I can't stop listening to them or eagerly awaiting my next credit to be given to me once a month.

Anyways, Warbreaker.

Wow. This was fan. tas. tic.

It hooked me right from the beginning. The world created was so bold and clear in my imagination thanks to all of the very, very detailed description Sanderson used.

I loved the narrator's voice, James Yaegashi. His voices for different characters really helped me to visualise and differentiate between them. He also reminded me of Stephen Moyer from True Blood with his southern drawl.

Lightsong and the God King were my favourite characters. Lightsong was funny, charming and caring even though he tried to give off the vibe that he was lazy and couldn't be bothered with anything, always making jokes. Whereas, the God King, Susebron, was sweet and gentle in his masculine, intimidating body. I can't say too much else without giving a lot away about these two characters, but overall I think the whole story came together perfectly with a lot of revelations at the end.

It was just brilliant.

I am definitely going to be listening/reading to more of Sanderson's books!!

✌

Captain America: Civil War

When I heard about this film, I hadn't been entirely convinced it would be very good. In fact, I was damn right sceptical. I mean, the Avengers fight bad guys, not each other. Who would ever think that that was a good idea?

Image from Pinterest

But, it was actually pretty good, albeit very long.

It was very action-packed with an interesting, in-depth backstory for two of the main characters, entwining them unexpectedly.

For some reason though, I just don't click with Captain America. I find him incredibly irritating and boring, like, he's not exactly a superhero is he? Maybe it's because I'm a diehard Robert Downey Jr. fan, I don't know, but Steve Rogers is too noble and Prince Charming-esque for me.

I loved the addition of Spiderman, Ant Man and Black Panther however. Spiderman, especially, because he was hilarious and although I missed Andrew Garfield I felt Tom Holland did a great job and I look forward to seeing him in any future Marvel films.

I also liked how the superheroes seemed to be struggling more within themselves this time, dealing with their own flaws, the results of their own actions. It definitely made them more relatable. This was especially highlighted with Stark and Wanda. Robert Downey Jr. and Elizabeth Olsen were spectacular.

Paul Bettany was, again, brilliant as Vision. His high intelligence and power verses his misunderstandings of human nature was interesting. He could be the most powerful of them all without even really knowing it.

However, like I said earlier, the film was very, very long. Every time I thought the climactic action scene and following calm one would be the end, another action scene exploded onto the screen and I was left wondering if the film would ever end. It was also a little annoying that they added two extra scenes, one a minute or so after a few credits and another right at the very end. Come on, at least put them both together!

Anyways, if you like action films and men in spandex suits, this one's for you.

---

Rating:

★★★☆☆

✌

The Jungle Book

Since finding out the voice cast and watching the trailer for the first time a few months ago, I knew the live action version of The Jungle Book would be a good'n.

Image from Pinterest

They nailed the voice cast in my opinion - Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken and Ben Kingsley. Perfect.

It was a lot darker than the Disney version which was an interesting spin on things, especially Shere Khan with his added ugly scar across a clearly blind eye. Quite terrifying when close up.

Even King Louie was quite maniacal, wanting Mowgli to bestow upon him man's "red flower" (think the wording could have maybe described fire with something a little better...)

Kaa wasn't in it as much as I would have hoped which was a little disappointing. Although it has been a very long time since I've even seen the Disney version. But Scarlett Johansson's seductive voice could definitely be enough to put anyone into a state of hypnosis.

Bagheera and Baloo did not disappoint though.

I love Bill Murray. I think it's solely because of his role in Scrooged that is the reason behind this, but even in interviews I find him hilarious and he was absolutely wonderful as Baloo with the right amount of humour and kindness to him.

And Bagheera, well, I have a fondness for black cats but his seemingly 'no bullshit' attitude was great throughout. It was all very amusing.

The two songs which did feature were good (Bear Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You). I can imagine a number of people probably joined in as well in the cinema!

I definitely admire Neel Sethi as Mowgli. It must have been the strangest filming experience and he did such a great job for such a young actor.

Finally, I can't forget to mention those adorable wolf pups - the cutest things! Especially Grey.

I would highly, highly recommend going to see this if you're a lover of all things Disney!

---

Rating:

★★★★★

✌

Girl Crush: Carrie Bradshaw

I was late to the Sex and the City party. As in the only reason I actually came across it was because all of my family were out one night (same old homebody, aren't I?) and I was bored of watching Friends reruns. No good films were on either, I believe. But I came across a couple of episodes of Sex and the City and thought why the hell not?

I'd heard good things about it. Very good things. But I didn't know how much I would actually enjoy it. Yes, the show was a little dated but some of the fashion items, New York city in all her glory and each career of the four girls was enough for me, something to envy and look up to even. 

And so my girl crush on Miss Bradshaw commenced.

The strong female leads were definitely something that drew me in, with each of them teaching me many lessons about life, relationships, careers and whatnot, especially that you can be your own woman without a man to make you happy (although it is pretty good to have one too).

Anyways, moving on.

I can't remember a specific time of wanting to be a writer, but it has always been there in the background, amongst the fleeting careers idea of wanting to be an artist, a photographer and even a tattooist at one point (crazy I know, but I was heavily influenced by the likes of America's Next Top Model and Miami Ink during my teen years!)

Writing gives me freedom, escapism, life. I absolutely adore it. And so whenever I see a protagonist that is a writer, I instantly click with them, wanting to be them, looking for hints in any way shape or form to get to where I want to be.

So - for me - this makes Carrie's life perfect. I aspire to have one like hers. I want to write books, to be published, to have a meaning in somebody's life, to have my own place where I can escape to and write to my hearts content, hell I'd even try writing a column if the opportunity came my way. 

The only thing is, blog posts are the only writing I've been doing of late. My novel's first draft is done but it needs a lot of editing and I. just. keep. putting. it. off. I get so annoyed at myself because I can be on the train, listening to my Pirates of the Caribbean score and ideas just swim into my head and I scramble to add them into the notes on my phone.

But they stay there, awaiting to be written up.

So, excuse me whilst I go and browse Amazon for a boxset of Sex and the City and avoiding my editing plans once more...



Strawberry-Blonde Confirmed

So, I grew up being told all the time that my hair colour was strawberry-blonde, not thinking anything else to it and then secondary school came around and I was told that strawberry-blonde wasn't a 'real' colour, it was just a 'cover up' for a red head or ginger, whatever you want to call it.

Taunting commenced from some sad individuals and I felt so self-conscious and down that I had my hair coloured blonde for the first time in Year 9 (think I was 14).

18/19 years old

This continued until about, maybe, a year or two ago (6-7 years straight!), with a slight change in colour here and there (red underneath, electric blue all over and then, lastly, brunette).

It wasn't until the money became an issue due to finishing uni and having only a part time waitressing job that I stopped having my hair done - which I was initially distraught about. Having my hair done was what had given me some more confidence over the past years.

And now, I've been thinking about having it coloured again recently, as it has pretty much grown back to it's original shade. I had every intention of talking to my hairdresser about seeing a colour chart during yesterday's appointment, but you know what?

I looked in the mirror before I left for my appointment and I actually liked the colour I saw. From the years and years worth of blonde on top, my ends look a lot lighter, which is nice, but overall, I kind of, really like it. Weird.

I asked my hairdresser yesterday what colour he thought my hair was there and then and he initially said blonde, which took me aback. I then proceeded to ask him if strawberry-blonde was a real colour and that I'd had people say that that's what mine was but also that I'd heard it wasn't even a real colour. I also told him I'd had auburn been assigned to my colouring as well.

He instantly disagreed with the auburn saying my hair wasn't dark enough but agreed that it was, indeed, strawberry-blonde, a blonde that has warm tones to it, not necessarily red.

So there you have it, strawberry-blonde is a real colour and I am finally at peace with it.

✌

Bad Habits

I have so many bad habits, I don't even know where to start. I thought I would write this post because the main ones have gotten a lot worse again and I don't know whether I'm subconsciously stressing about something I can't put my finger on or what. I just know I'm going crazy every time I catch myself doing one of them of late and I need to figure out a way to deal with them once and for all!

I used to be so good at being on time to everything, like not even on time, I would be mega early

So, here they are in all their glory:

1. Picking at my spots - on my face, on my arms, on my chest, on my back, you name it, I'll find a way. I've even noticed myself doing it in public now, like at work or something, which definitely isn't good. I hate walking around, even if it's just in my house, with red blotches and dried blood somewhere on my upper body because of it.

2. Chewing my inner cheeks/lips - I can't 100% remember why I started this nasty little habit, but I think it had something to do with wearing braces and them rubbing my cheeks raw in the meantime so afterwards all I've been able to do is chew them. My friend's mum even told us once that it caused mouth cancer to put us both off of doing it. We then found out this was a lie and picked up the habit again!

3. Doubting myself - I've always been shy and I've never really thought of linking that with the fact that I compare myself to others constantly. Whether it's grades in school or the way a girl looks, I'll always feel inferior to people. It doesn't help either that I have such a quiet voice and pretty much everyone talks over me.

4. Wasting weekends - this one has been pretty bad for a while (although starting to pick up now because I'm going insane staying indoors and not doing anything other than work and TV!). It's not that I feel like I'm wasting them at the time because I'm relaxing and that's what I like to do over going out any day. It's just that people are always going out, doing adventurous, wonderful things and all I do is sit at home. So, yes, this probably links back to the comparing thing. I get awfully jealous that I can't be as willing to try new things and to venture out more.

5. Negativity - now I know I've stated this one in a previous post in saying that I would stop being so negative all of the damn time. Well, there are good days and then there are the bad days. I've lately started focusing on my thoughts again, catching the negative ones and changing them to a more reasonable approach. I've also recently started meditating to see if I can calm all of my angry thoughts!

6. Lazy - see back to the wasting weekends point but also I'm struggling to find any motivation at all to work out after work or to even finish editing my novel once and for all. I just keep procrastinating everything and I'm getting sick of it. I really need to find my motivation again.

7. Timekeeping of late - I used to be brilliant at turning up on time for everything. I would even go as far as to be exceptionally early for events in fear that people would judge me if I turned up late. Now, I leave as late as possible in order to be just about on time. I don't know whether this is because my work is a little more relaxed about it, but I would like to turn up more on time, even if only for me!

I'm sure there are more bad habits that I have, I know I almost named some of my flaws as well, mixing the two. But, for now, these are the ones that are bugging me the most.

What bad habits do you endure?

✌

Goodbye Smudge

So, I've missed a few of my regular posting times/days and the last post I did was hastily done. It's been a rough few weeks with intermittent health issues, internet problems and the death of my cat.

It may seem silly to some for me to be so distraught over a cat dying, but he really was a part of the family. Like, I used to hate that saying, but I really can see it now. The pets are as good a part of us as our parents or siblings. I mean, it tends to be the animals I'm really looking forward to on a visit home. 

Sad, I know.

He was always there since I was about ten or eleven years old, doing stupid things, making us laugh. When he was a kitten, he would get into the christmas tree and sit in there until he decided to pull it down instead or tear up bits of baubles and tinsel. And even last christmas he got into the box of tinsel with eyes the size of saucers. He was so mischievous and a pain in the ass, but we loved him anyway.

It's not just that he's gone, it's more that he's left such a big empty space behind, and that's not because he was such a fat cat. I don't even live at home anymore with all of our family pets, but it's still weird to think that he's not there anymore. I've kind of even been putting off going home because, although I know he's gone, it confirms it, in a way, if I go back.

Who would have thought it would take a cat dying to make me feel more appreciative of the time I do spend with people? It's just so weird, I was at home three days before he got hit by that car and crawled his way back to our garden, where my sister fortunately found him.

I just can't stop thinking about what my sister said when I asked her if she was okay. She said the worst bit of it all was that his meowing was so sad. Reading that text broke my heart.

Who's going to drink the milk from my cereal bowl when I've eaten the rest now? Who's going to flop onto the carpet on a sunny day with his flab splaying everywhere? Who's going to purr ridiculously loudly even when we sit down on the opposite side of the bed without looking at him?

Rest in peace my poor poor baby, you didn't deserve the hand you were dealt in the end ❤

✝

The Death Cure

By James Dashner

[The trials are over. WICKED

is planning to restore the

survivors' memories and

complete the final cure for

the Flare.

But Thomas has already

remembered more than

they think. And he knows

WICKED can't be trusted.

The time for lies is over. But

the truth is more dangerous

than Thomas could ever

imagine. Will anyone survive

the Death Cure?]

I'm not really too sure of where to start for this review. I was so eager to find out how this series was going to end but then I kept putting it down being too scared to actually find out what happens. I often find the endings to epic trilogies a bit of a let down and this was somewhat similar - although the epilogue was that last glimpse of a twist!

The plot was obviously different from the last two and I'm not sure I liked it as much because of this. I preferred the Glader's constant battle for escaping the trials and with this one not being a trial per se, it just wasn't as dramatic. Yes, there were bits when they had to escape but it just wasn't the same. It didn't pack as much tension into it.

However, there were two main deaths in it, one that I saw coming and the other that I didn't (even though I really should have). The latter one crushed me. His spiral down and out of control was tragic and I can't believe the way in which he actually died - it was heartbreaking. I kept thinking he would just turn up at the end and he didn't. The other death was sad but because of the way things went with Thomas and this character I didn't feel nearly as sad as I might have done if they'd have died in the first one.

I still loved Minho in this one, you really get to see the bond between himself, Thomas and Newt which is nice. It is quite interesting that my opinion of characters changes with how Thomas feels about them though. I also enjoyed the return of an old nemesis!

It was great to go back to the Maze briefly and see those nasty Grievers once more. I think the world Dashner creates is magnificent. Everything crumbling down with the slow demise of the human race - he nails every detail.

Like I said though, the ending was a slight disappointment. It was a good battle and the imagery was epic but I was just left with a bit of a meh feeling. But then came the epilogue in which Chancellor Paige makes her entry (not physical entry however, we never actually see her) and we are left with the feeling that the Immunes are never really out of the game, they will always be WICKED's candidates - something only one of them will know for the rest of their lives...

I'm definitely interested in seeing this final film. I know the Scorch Trials film wasn't anything like the book so I wonder what they'll do for the last one!

✌