Underworld: Blood Wars

Image From Pinterest

It's been such a good weekend already. In fact it's just been a pretty good week all in all.

The weather's been fab, I'm feeling a lot more settled in my new place and I've spent some time with family and Adeel so I'm feeling very at peace and happy right now.

Literally just spent my evening watching the Grand Prix whilst colouring which has been so calming and a lovely way to finish a busy few days.

But at the moment, I'm looking forward to a plan-free bank holiday Monday if I'm honest. Will most likely go for a nice slow run before finishing unpacking and cleaning my room. 

Perfect.

We went to see Pirates 5 today and, ohmygod, I cannot wait to write a review for that!

One film I was equally excited for at the beginning of the year was Underworld: Blood Wars.

I love the Underworld series and not just because Kate Beckinsale is my girl crush but because it's just a fantastic set of vampire films. Beats Twilight by a mile, a million miles.

Unfortunately I wasn't completely won over by the fifth instalment.

I don't think the story was very strong at all and I was very, very annoyed at how they barely even covered writing off Michael's character. I'm fully aware the actor didn't want to come back but it's not like he was anyone random, he was what the entire plot surrounded in films one and two.

I enjoyed the old characters and a couple from the fourth, but the new characters I almost felt were weak, that they weren't anything special given the previous villains. Plus, I'm kind of biased in the old characters because I absolutely love Kate Beckinsale, Theo James and Charles Dance.

The cinematography and the sets and the costumes were beautiful as usual. Lycra and medieval castles and epic battle scenes - classic Underworld action.

I'm not gonna lie though, I will probably watch it again beside the others because I like doing film marathons every now and again and it's part of the story, especially as there's going to be another one!

Let's hope the sixth is better.

---

Rating:
★★★☆☆



☽

Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1)

By Robin Hobb

Narrated by Paul Boehmer

Image From Goodreads

[In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named
for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a
walking enigma. Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son
of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world,
friendless and lonely.

Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the
Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used
too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.
So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he
must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry,
scribbing, courtly manners, and how to kill a man secretly, as he
trains to become a royal assassin.]

I am so in love with my new place, it's the best and so beautiful and different and not London. In heaven.

Adjusting to a new routine is taking a little bit of time to get used to but one I'm sure I will pick up soon enough.

I'm yet to find a new place to run and I want to start writing my posts ahead of time so I can have them scheduled instead of doing them last minute each time. But, baby steps.

Need to finish unpacking yet...

Moving swiftly on.

I have heard SO many good things about Robin Hobb's books but the lengths of them always put me off starting as they were all just so so so long.

You know a good way to combat lengthy books? Don't look at the size of them. 

Audiobooks are perfect for this. I know 28 odd hours sounds long but it's way less intimidating than say 800 pages. It seems more manageable which is why I've decided to listen to all of Robin Hobb's books on audiobook. It will save me lugging around a large book and I will feel more like I am getting through it, which is always good.

I loveeeeee heavy fantasy books (not heavy physically), just all that intense description and packed in scenes where nothing actually happens but it's in another world and just what the characters eat is fascinating.

Medieval-fantasy is also good. Love a bit of old-fashioned swordplay.

This was similar to The Kingkiller Chronicle books (which are fab by the way) in that not a lot actually happens but it keeps you hooked anyway in the everyday events that the protagonist has to go through.

Fitz was a very loveable character, especially as we got to start with him as a six year old and end with him as possibly being in his early/mid teens? Still not sure how old he is currently but, still, we get to grow up with him making us just that little bit biased when anything happens to him.

The rest of the characters were well-rounded and interesting. There were a few I wasn't sure if I liked or not, and some I definitely disliked but they were all used very well for their parts.

Burrich was one of those I wasn't sure I liked all the way through. He was caring and almost fatherly towards Fitz but then he could also be quite cruel and harsh given how old Fitz was.

Galen and Regal I loathed. They were equally horrible, especially to poor Fitz, but their cunning plans are what pulls the story to its tense climax.

The plot was very good. I loved the slow pace of the beginning, introducing the characters and the surrounding world. Things did move pretty slowly for a long while, but like I said earlier, this was fine with me as it was all interesting. One by one hurdles were thrown Fitz's way; some minor ones to begin with but growing more and more intense as the story progressed.

The magical element was very intriguing. There appears to be two different types and one that's looked down upon. I'm still trying to work out what the difference is between the two but I'm sure that'll become clear in the following books.

The climax was fantastic. I was shocked by some of it which is always a good thing as it's not predictable! I honestly can't wait to continue reading Hobb's books to see how it all unfolds!



📖

Rogue One

Well hello there.

Image from Pinterest

Last Sunday I didn't even realise I'd missed a post until late the following day which never happens. I was so caught up on packing my last fews bits and travelling home to drop them off that it slipped my mind.

And then Wednesday's post I did miss on purpose. I thought I would give myself the week off as I had a busy week packing up my belongings and a few rare social engagements!

And now, although I am sad that one of my colleagues left this week, I am happy to report I am all settled in to my new place -- if settled means I still have packing boxes everywhere...

---

Well, this review has been a long time coming as it came out in what, December??

Bare with me if I forget a few of the details for the plot!

Think this was a spur of the moment watch as I'd taken the day off work to go to Winter Wonderland with Adeel. Then when we were done we decided to head over to Leicester Square and squeeze in a quick film before my drive home for Christmas the following day.

I'm not a massive fan of Star Wars, think I prefer Star Trek (although the second and third weren't as good as the first), but I've enjoyed the newer ones for sure as well as the original series (not so much the prequels).

I enjoyed the plot. It was very action packed which makes a change I think. The other Star Wars have been more quest driven with the one overall bad guy, whereas this one was a brewing war between two sides with many epic battles throughout.

I did find the ending a bit of a shock though. But I guess you never expect to watch a film and see characters get killed off. Princess Leia's cameo at the very end was quite nice and unexpected.

Felicity Jones is really growing on me as an actor. She's so talented and I love watching her characters unfold. Jyn was a beautiful character. Her backstory was intriguing and nicely interwoven throughout.

Diego Luna also did a good job of portraying Cassian and I rather enjoyed K-2SO's comedic comments as well.

Overall, it was a good film but one that I can't say I'm that fussed about. For me, it didn't make any impact, it didn't add anything to the other films but hey, I'm not a hardcore Star Wars fan so I probably don't know what I'm talking about.

---

Rating:

★★★☆☆

Gorey, Jersey

Can I give you some advice? Never watch two final episodes to two different series on the same day. I am a complete wreck. Both Grimm and The Vampire Diaries had their last ever season finales last night and I watched them before writing this.

Jesus Christ.

Deep breath and let's get on with some more of what we got up to in Jersey.

Our third day started the way the second did, with the hotel breakfast and a reasonably early start to pack as much in as we could.

I knew I wanted to visit a castle or two and what I didn't tell you about the day before was the afternoon, before our date night, was a bit of a failure. 

We'd originally attempted to visit Elizabeth Castle but it turned out it wasn't the right time of year and then we tried to go to the Maritime Museum as well, but it turned out that was only open on Sundays! What a palarva. So that's when we settled for the arcade.

Anyway as it was a brand new day, we thought we would try the Maritime Museum again which was thankfully open! We literally just got inside when the heavens opened and it hailed very very heavily. Lucky for us, we spent the next hour or two wandering round the museum looking at all the shells and sealife and boats.

It was quite interesting but rather expensive!

Again, as per our usual, we went back to the hotel for a quick break before heading back out again, this time to visit Mont Orgueil Castle in Gorey (the opposite side of the island - took about 20 minutes to drive to!)

I loved this castle. We drove past The Paper Fig restaurant and wove our way up and up these narrow twisting lanes to the castle on the hill above.

We got to the little hut where we had to pay for the entrance and the weather turned once more for the worst - only quick bursts of heavy rain but enough to keep us hovering inside a little bit longer.

The guy behind the desk gave us a map of the castle and challenged us to find the four hidden items on our scavenge through the castle as it had many many little hidey holes and so many tucked away crevices!

Once the rain had stopped the sun came out in all her glory and it was a beautiful day. The views were absolutely stunning and we had so much fun winding our way around all the rooms and completing our mission to find the secret items.

We were starved by the time we left though so we took a different, very windy route back to the hotel but came across this adorable little garden centre with a tearoom. The food was amazing. It was packed so it must be a good spot for a Sunday lunch.

After that we made our way back to the hotel, packed our bags ready for our departure the following day and made use of the hotel amenities one last time.

One last post to come for Jersey but that's all you're getting for now!

🏝

2True

Well, this is my first makeup post!

I'm not really one for these types of post - writing or reading them to be honest because I know what I like and I don't like changing them up very often.

But, the trusty, wonderful, perfect brand of liquid eyeliner that I've been using for years has been out of stock for ages and I'm worried it's now no longer in business so I might be in need of a suitable replacement.

I literally just stumbled across 2True when I was in Superdrug one day (must've been in my mid teens?) and I've been in love with it ever since.

Think I was using Barry M before but I was never really happy with it and then I found 2True. 

The thing is, I never saw it in any other branch except the one in my hometown which was really annoying, especially when I moved to London because whenever I went home I had to stock up on it.

Except now they're not even existent in my hometown branch. Sad times.

I have bought a replacement one, the Rimmel Exaggerate eyeliner, but I'm not entirely pleased with it. It goes on fine and has a nice brush and all but I find it sometimes dries weird which means it tends to go a bit patchy?

So really this post is a question of are there any other decent liquid eyeliner brands out there?

It's also an appreciation post for 2True because it was such a wonderful eyeliner. It always went on so smoothly and rarely smudged even when I'd been crying!

---

Update: I've just googled 2True out of curiosity again and it's back in stock. Hurrah!

Panic over, no need for a replacement, it's back ♥︎

So, if you're looking for a decent liquid eyeliner, try 2True ;)



🌸