Big Little Lies

Moving is so stressful, like unbelievably stressful.

Part of me is so excited and loving packing my life into boxes and then unpacking in a brand new room. But the other part of me is terrified. Change is the worst, but also the best. Does that make sense?

I don't know. Anyway, last weekend I binge watched all 7 episodes of Big Little Lies because, well, why the hell not? I'd heard it was good and so I watched it all, in one go. Whoops.

Minor spoilers ahead.

With an all star cast and a murder mystery to be unravelled, what was not to love?

Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley are all fantastic in their roles as women with complicated lives. Madeline (Witherspoon) is your typical Queen Bee, rich and perfect, except she's been having an affair and her marriage is falling apart. Celeste (Kidman) is the beautiful, top shot ex-layer, with a doting husband and lovely twin boys, except her husband occasionally beats her. And Jane (Woodley) is an outcast running from a past she can't escape, new to town with accusations beginning to escalate.

Corr, the way the three of their storylines are so neatly interwoven with each other and with the interrogation scenes is wonderful. You literally don't know who has been murdered until the penultimate scene in the last episode. It all mounts more and more and more until realisation comes crashing down and you understand how it's all tied together. It's brilliant.

I have to mention Alexander Skarsgard as Perry, Celeste's abusive husband. He has a real knack for these kind of roles and I think he played the part perfectly. Santiago Cabrera as Joseph, Madeline's secret lover, also did a great job. It's so strange to go from watching Skarsgard in True Blood and Cabrera in The Musketeers to something like this, so normal but exciting because their characters are new and different from their previous ones. Laura Durn was also very passionate and kind of an irritating character but with good reason.

The only thing I was a little disappointed with was who was actually murdered. I felt that there were two individuals who it would have been pretty obvious to choose to murder and one of them was, in fact, the one that was murdered so it wasn't very shocking. It was good though how the events leading up to the murder unravelled. I literally did not see one of the revelations coming at all. It was such a good twist!!

I feel like I may have stumbled across a slight plot hole though, in the fact that when all of the protagonists are coming together in the murder scene, Joseph goes off to the 'bathroom' right after Madeline storms off - I presumed he was going after her yet he never appears again which I found a little odd.

Oh well, it was well worth the watch. The cinematography and the music were beautiful, the story gripping and the acting phenomenal.



✽

The Paper Fig

So, I have some exciting news - I'm moving house! Finally.

It's into another house share but it's with less people, in an area I like and the house is beautiful.

That's why I've been so busy of late, I've been packing stuff up, taking it home, moving it into the new place, and all that jazz that comes with moving into a new place.

The next month is going to be extremely busy with multiple trips back and forth to the new place and home as I transfer all the clutter I have (I am such a hoarder!) but I will try to keep my two posts a week coming. 

I definitely still have a lot of reviews to do and a few other ideas that I've been thinking about.

For now, here is the review on The Paper Fig restaurant in Jersey, located in the town of Gorey.

As you can see in the above photo it's a very beautiful, cosy little restaurant.

Unfortunately, the evening we visited was a cold and rainy one so it was lovely to walk into such a warm ambience. 

The candles were lit, there were squashy cushions to sink into and an interesting variety of textures from the walls to the artwork, even to the mosaic bathrooms!

We were the first people in the restaurant that evening and the waiter who accommodated us was very polite and friendly.

The place slowly filled around us as we ordered.

Adeel went for the Ragout d'Agneau Croupe, a lamb rump in a truffled wild mushroom cassolette, red wine sauce and creamy mashed potatoes.

He said it was the best meal he has ever had. He even wanted to go into the kitchen to personally shake the chef's hand - he didn't, but that goes to show how much he enjoyed it!

I was torn between two but in the end decided on the Filet de Cabillaud, a fillet of cod with capers, butter sauce and crushed lemon potatoes.

It was phenomenal. The sharp lemon-y potatoes went so well with the little capers and the smooth cod. I was in heaven.

The portions were small (like in a proper posh place) but it was enough. They were rich and creamy and just beautifully presented.

We just managed to squeeze in some Jersey Dairy vanilla ice cream which was a good palette cleanser and a nice way to finish off the meal.

Seriously, such a great place and a surprisingly fantastic gem of a find, well, recommendation really, wonderful staff and a beautiful location.

If you ever, ever, get a chance to visit, please do. I can't recommend it enough.

Amazing.



🏝

The Heir Chronicles, Book Two - The Wizard Heir

By Cinda Williams Chima

[Seph McCauley has spent three years getting
kicked out of one exclusive private school after
another. And it's not his attitude that's the
problem: it's the trail of magical accidents -
lately, disasters - that follow in his wake. Seph
is a wizard, orphaned and untrained, and his
powers are escalating out of control.

Worse, as the magical accidents that plague him grow
in intensity, Seph makes a discovery: the stories he's
been told about his parents' deaths are fabrications.
The people he trusts most have been lying to him.

Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boy's school
whose headmaster promises to train him in magic.
Maybe here he will find a community he can trust?
But he soon learns that the training comes at a steep
cost and everyone around him is keeping secrets.
Where can he turn, when he finds himself at the
centre of a war he may well not survive?]

Oooh, I was wondering how they would continue on from The Warrior Heir, whether the characters would crossover or whether this one would be completely separate but be placed in the same world.

I'm glad that it crossed over to be honest. I enjoyed Jack's character so much in the first one that Seph couldn't really compare in this one (although Jack came across a little cold and grouchy in this one which put me off him).

I did like the story though. It had an intriguing concept and a good mysterious element to it. Unfortunately, I did find it a little predictable in that I guessed who both of his parents were and it wasn't that big of a reveal as to who the Dragon was either.

Not to worry though because it was a solid story and I can see how it could possibly unfold in the others to come.

I don't think I enjoyed this one as much as the first one though because it lacked the medieval element that it had and I love medieval plots.

One scene that particularly stood out to me, which I think was fantastic, was the scene where Madison and Seph go off together for a picnic by a scenic river. This scene doesn't have any importance to the story or any impact at all on anything really, I just thought it was so beautiful and could picture every detail described.

Am looking forward to seeing what the others have in store!



📖

Bad Santa 2

Wow, this was a while ago. My badddddd.

Anyways, busy bee, starting to get my motivation back. Running beginning to go well again, been home quite a lot, viewing potential properties to move in to, that sort of thing!

Because of the potential move, I've also been going through all of my things, packing up stuff I don't need, preparing them for charity bags or just chucking them. 

Decluttering is making me feel soo good at the moment, it's so cleansing. Clutter really does take up space in your mind as well as physically in your house.

Well, enough of my new found minimalist-ness, on to the film review.

Bad Santa 2, oh dear, ahaha.

I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't wait for this to come out when I found out they were making a second one. The first is so so funny and I love watching it every Christmas even though it's so rude and dirty and not very Christmassy at all.

The second one, however, wasn't as good as the first but was fairly amusing. It was great to see all of the characters again and where they all were in their lives, especially Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly). He looks exactly the same but about ten years older, it's hilarious. Kathy Bates was also a great addition, playing Willie's estranged, unruly mother.

Billy Bob Thornton, as ever, nails his character as an alcoholic struggling to make money each month, choosing to become Santa once more to get a massive payout with none other than the guy who tried to kill him last time, Marcus (Tony Cox).

The storyline was funny but silly. Willie constantly has an internal struggle with his compassion, especially when it comes to Thurman (and somewhat his mother) so it's pretty similar to the first one in that respect.

Worth a watch just to see the follow up from the first one, but prefer the original and will continue to watch it every Christmas!

---

Rating:
★★★☆☆



☽

St. Brelade, Jersey

I love bank holiday weekends but they always throw me off, hence the lack of post last night...

I've literally been so busy of late that my posts are half-assed anyway which is why I tend to just post reviews.

But, I did promise more on our time in Jersey and when better to sit down and write a proper post than on a bank holiday Monday?

We'd agreed that this time round we would get up early every day so we could fit as much in as possible (when we went to Oxford it kind of all went pear-shaped cause we overslept! Which also has to do with my weird thing where I cannot for the life of me sleep in a hotel. Strange, but I managed in this one!!).

So we started our day off nice and early, down for the breakfast and then out of the hotel between 10 and 11.

Before heading for St. Brelade, we quickly ran across the road to look at the beach again - we fell in love with it.

After taking a few - hundred - snaps, we took the car and made our way to St. Brelade Bay. It was absolutely stunning. The sun was out and I don't think I've ever seen the sea that blue before. Because it was early March as well it was so quiet and peaceful.

We wandered along the beach drinking in as much of the view as possible stopping in a tourist shop to by some fudge (they are very proud of their Jersey cows so really advertise it in all possible products!)

Next we drove to a golf country club (unbeknownst to us at the time - I just thought it was a regular golf place) in which we went on the driving range (I was so so awful) before having lunch at Rocco's.

Adeel took every opportunity to have steak as possible it seemed, but I stuck with a ham and cheese toasty as we had plans for a date night dinner that evening.

Another thing we also noted on was how nice everyone was. Nobody was in any hurry to get anywhere. The fastest speed you could go was 40mph, and everyone was just so polite and conversational - it was wonderful.

I think we had a short break at the hotel after that - somewhat of a siesta if you like - before heading to an arcade. We literally played air hockey and a shooting game, Adeel won a stuffed toy on a claw machine and we left.

We had a bit of down time before getting ready for dinner. We'd asked the receptionist at the time for a recommendation and she kindly booked us a reservation with her friend's restaurant The Paper Fig.

Now, I haven't put any photos in of the restaurant or food because I want to write a full post on it. It was just perfect. And that's all I'm saying about it in this post!

After we returned from our heavenly culinary experience we dipped into the pool once more before hitting the sheets...

🏝

Aimless and Unmotivated

Do you ever just feel like you're going through the motions, just going along with life as it sees fit, not how you would like it to go?

I don't know what's wrong with me of late, but I just cannot pull myself together.

I mean there's nothing wrong with my life, I just feel like I'm going nowhere.

I'm not motivated to run, I'm not motivated to write - blog posts or my book, I'm not motivated to do anything. Work doesn't seem as enjoyable anymore, I'm tired of living with these people but also scared to move on somewhere new.

I'm also at that point in the year where my body has decided it doesn't like the change in the weather so it's produced a mass outbreak all over my chest and back which, yanno, doesn't make me feel any better about myself. Grand.

I hate having these down moments and I feel awful for moaning about it considering these problems aren't proper problems for the likes of those who are homeless or disaster has struck their homes. Those people out there who would give anything for a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. But I guess everyone has their own problems to deal with.

The picture above was taken whilst I was at my grandparents on Saturday. It was the most relaxing long weekend I've had in a while.

I had from Wednesday off and I drove home on Thursday. I spent the majority of my time unpacking my room as it had all been packed up for my carpet to be redone (and if that doesn't contrast completely with a couple sentences above then I don't know what does). It was so calming to go through all my teenage memories and relive them.

I chucked a lot of stuff or bagged it for charities which made me feel like I was doing some good in the world.

I considered last year even going to another country to help in the rainforests or in building volunteer projects or in helping with disaster relief. But I didn't realise you had to pay a couple of grand just to volunteer. Why is the world ruled by money?

Getting sidetracked... anyways, after unpacking all of Friday and a bit of Thursday afternoon it was nice to spend the day at my grandparents and chill out in the sun. Their garden is so beautiful, full of colourful flowers and wildlife ornaments.

I sometimes wish I could spend more time there. Living in London has separated me from my family even more and it bugs me.

Adeel is so close to his family and gets to see them all very frequently. I feel like an awful granddaughter, cousin, sister, niece, friend because I'm never around.

I feel like I've already said all of this. But I don't feel needed.

And TV shows don't help. They're all perfect and beautiful. Yes they're not real but they make me feel insignificant and disgusted with myself.

God that was depressing. Just a big fat bleurgh of thoughts all over this page.

Now I'm going to go and finish reading HP7 because a little bit of magic always makes me feel better.

✌︎

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

[Fresh from victory on the battlefield, the
celebrated general and nobleman Macbeth
receives a prophecy from three witches that he
will one day become king of Scotland. Driven by
his own ambition and that of his power-hungry
wife, he murders King Duncan and seizes the
throne for himself. Forced to commit murder
again and again to maintain their grip on power,
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become haunted by
guilt and paranoia, spiralling into madness and,
eventually, death.]

Can I just start by saying - I READ A SHAKESPEARE PLAY FOR FUN.

If you'd have known me back in secondary school or even college you would know how much I loathed Shakespeare. Annotating every single blasted word drove me up the wall.

But I found myself, a few months ago, wanting to attempt a reading of his darkest play out of pure curiosity. As a writer, he is worshipped. So what is all the fuss about?

Funnily enough, I rather enjoyed reading Macbeth.

The version I read had a sort of translation page opposite the actual Shakespearian play which was very handy indeed. I don't think I would've enjoyed it half as much if it wasn't for that because I still probably wouldn't have understood at least 60% of it.

But it was good. I enjoyed the story and the characters. I seemed to prefer scenes with Macbeth or Lady Macbeth in them, or the witches, because they were the scenes that were a lot more dramatic. I was always wondering who they'd kill next or what prophecy the witches would come up with next.

The only thing I wasn't particularly happy about were the sudden write-offs of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I think I would've liked to see what actually happened to them both as their deaths were off-stage.

However, saying that, the way it was written might've been very effective in play format, so who knows?

Maybe I'll try Romeo and Juliet soon...



➴

The Heir Chronicles, Book One - The Warrior Heir

By Cinda Williams Chima 

[Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old
Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small
Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has
to take daily and the thick scar above his heart
set him apart from the other high-schoolers.

At least, until the day Jack forgets his 'medicine'.
Suddenly he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident
than ever before. And it feels great - right up until
he loses control and almost kills someone.
An incident which proves to be just the beginning.

Jack is about to learn the startling truth: he is Weirlind;
part of an underground society of magical people
who live among us. More, Jack discovers that he's 
unique: he's one of the last of the warriors, and his
power has manifested at a time when both houses are
hunting for a warrior. And until one of the feuding
houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop
at nothing to get Jack to fight for them...]

I got bought this book for Christmas as my friend thought it'd be my type of thing, not that she'd read it herself - she just knows me that well!

And I did enjoy this book. I'd never heard of it before and as always, when getting into a new fantasy series it takes me a few chapters to get my head around the new terms, but I grasped them pretty quickly.

The prologue was intriguing and definitely a good way to pull you into the story (also nicely looped around at the end and neatly tied up).

The main bulk of the book was great though. I loved the characters, especially Jack, Will and Fitch. The mix of everyday life thrown into contrast against magical battles and sparring was very well done and I didn't find any of it boring which you can sometimes get in fantasies with all the description.

The tension throughout was brilliant, one big long adventure with little quiet moments that were cute or refreshing. The final battle (although I guessed Jack's opponent moments before it was revealed) was good, I felt it could've been a tiny bit more dramatic. I wasn't on the edge of my seat because it was the outcome I expected too.

I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the series will bring though. I love the idea of ancient magic and tournaments so I'm intrigued!

Also more to come about Jersey soooooon...



☽

The Night Eternal (The Strain Trilogy, #3)

By Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Narrated by Daniel Oreskes

Image From Goodreads

[The nail-biting vampire thriller from the world famous-director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy.

The night belongs to them, and it will be a night eternal... After the blasts, it was all over.

Nuclear Winter has settled upon the earth. Except for one hour of sunlight a day, the whole world is plunged into darkness. It is a near-perfect environment for vampires. They have won. It is their time. Almost every single man, woman and child has been enslaved in vast camps across the globe. Like animals, they are farmed, harvested for the sick pleasure of the Master Race.

Almost, but not all. Somewhere out there, hiding for their lives, is a desperate network of free humans, continue the seemingly hopeless resistance. Everyday people, with no other options - among them Dr Ephraim Goodweather, his son Zack, the veteran exterminator Vassily, and former gangbanger Gus.

To be free, they need a miracle, they need divine intervention. But salvation can be a twisted game - one in which they may be played like pawns in a battle of Good and Evil. And at what cost?]

I really wanted this to be good, but after the demise of two crucial characters and another minor character at the end of the previous one, this final instalment just didn't really do it for me.

I get that a story needs to tie up all loose ends but it wasn't as dramatic as it could have been, even though barely any of the main characters actually did seem to survive.

The Master didn't seem as threatening in this one because of his association with Zach. In fact, the vampires didn't seem very threatening at all, not even in the camps where they enslaved the humans to be their food supply.

I felt like more time could have been spent in the camps to increase this threat. They broke Nora out way too quickly for my liking.

I also didn't really like the narrator as much. For some reason it was only in this one that I picked up on the fact that I didn't like the way he did the different voices, even though he narrated the second one too.

Dutch never did make an appearance and there was an odd romance at the end that I don't know how I feel about. Gus was too full on and irritating as time went on as well.

I like the TV show so much. I'm incredibly disappointed that the books didn't entirely live up to it. I hope the final season is better - there are huge differences with a couple of characters included where they haven't been in the books. 

I do feel though - even with the series - that the threat has lessened. I feel like I've said it before but it's the outbreak of a virus that is the most fun and tense to read as people are dying all over the place whereas when the virus has fully taken over and only a handful of people survive, it's not all that surprising if they die or live because you've kind of grown numb to it all from the beginning.

Eh, I would only recommend the first book in this series alone I think.

☽