More from Patrick Ness please!

More than this by Patrick Ness

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts
472 pages
Released: September 2013
Buy it @ book depository

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this. . . 

Review

Patrick Ness has done it again! This book is like "A Monster Calls", it's hard to truly explain how you feel when you finish it. Anyone who reads this will get a different meaning or take something away from this. 

For me, what I take away from this is that we as humans live such short lives and we should try to make the most of what we have now. There is always more out there and never feel like 'is this all my life is going to be?'. If your life isn't what you want it to be, then go out there and do what you want and make it how you want it to be.

Seth was a refreshing character, I didn't particuarly like or hate him, but I can understand him. He was realistic and I liked that. I really loved Tomasz, always saving the day and giving us some comic relief in a world where there's nothing much except confusion and fear.

As with Ness' other books that I've read, there are always so many questions needing to be answered and lots of twists along the way too. This book is no different. There was action, suspense and mystery. I want MORE Patrick Ness please!

The next part of my review is a bit of a spoiler so read at your risk if you haven't read the book. Ness really made me think: How would I feel if all my life until now had ony been a sort of dream, not real and that I was living a life that meant nothing? If this isn't real then I would be happy with the descisions I've made. But, I don't think I'd like to live two different lives. I'm happy with the one I have now, I can see how for some people this would be a blessing to have a chance to live life a different way.

 

On the cover 

Something I have to mention about this cover is the feel. When holding this book in your hand and rubbing the cover it has a weird almost soft feel to it. Pick the hard cover up and have a feel. I love this cover! So simple but it draws my eye straight away. It's telling me could there be more than this? Open up this book to find out.

What I'm listening to next: How I Live Now Meg Rosoff

 

Chocolate Birds Nest Treats

I was extremely busy during March and it showed in the amount of blog posts for last month. Only 1! That has to be some sort of a record for me haha! We are just over a week away from Easter, Have you bought all your chocolates and gifts for family & friends yet?

Have you got your special treats organised to bring along to an Easter party? No!? Well, here is something I want to share with you all. They are so simple to make, look fantastic and most of all taste delicious!

These are just your everyday chocolate spiders with some cute easter chocolate eggs on top! Peanut butter lovers will gobble these up!

Makes: approx 20 (it all depends on how big you make them)

Prep & Cooking time: approx 30mins

Setting time: Min 3hrs

Ingredients:

1 100g packet of Chang's Original Fried Noodles
1 350g block of Cadbury Chocolate
2 Tablespoons of peanut butter
1 Bag of Chocolate Candy Eggs

Instructions:

1. Prepare trays with grease-proof paper

2. Cut or break up all the Cadbury chocolate, then melt it along with the peanut butter in a large saucepan over another saucepan filled with water on the stove.

3. Once this is melted and combined, remove from stove and add in the noodles. Mix very carefully, trying not to break too many of the noodles.

4. Taking a spoon (I use a table spoon) scoop out mixture and place onto prepared tray until all is used.

5. Now you can artisticly arrange your eggs on top of the nests however you like!

6. Put this into the fridge and let it set for at least 3 hrs. ENJOY!

TIP: You can put the chocolate and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl, then microwave for approx 1min instead of melting it on the stove if you prefer. This way is a lot quicker. Make sure that mixture is smooth before adding in noodles. You may need to reheat if not completely melted.

Have you ever tried making these before? How did it go?

The reluctant reviewer

The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts
264 pages
Released: February 2012
Buy it @ angus & robertson

But there I go, getting ahead of myself. Skipping straight to the part where I was front-page news and they were calling me Dorothy, instead of starting at the beginning...

When Dodie's parents go missing just as final year exams are about to start, she convinces herself they're fine. But when the least likely boy in class holds the key – quite literally – to the huge secret her parents have been hiding all these years, it's up to Dodie, her sister, the guy from school, and two guys she's never met before, to take on the challenge of a lifetime. So now Dodie's driving – unlicensed –to Sydney, and being chased by bad guys, the police, and one very handsome good guy.

Review

 

I have been waiting SO long to read this. I've heard all sorts of really amazing things about it and couldn't wait to find out what was in the basement. Unfortunately for me, the big secret of what was in the basement was spoiled by someone opening their BIG mouth! It would've been awesome not knowing and finding out through reading the story. I would never have guessed what was down there. ::grumble grumble::

Anywho, What I want to talk about is the actual book now. It was such a strange, but simple story. I wonder where the author got the idea from. (If anyone follows her or has read anything about it, please leave a comment, thanks!)

Now that I've read it, I don't think it's as awesome as I thought. Maybe I hyped it up too much or it could be that the mystery surrounding the book had been revealed to me. Either could be true, I still really enjoyed reading it and it was a nice short book with under 300 pages. Something else that let the book down a bit was the ending. I'm a little disappointed, it felt like what happened with Jones (people who have read this may know what I'm talking about) was a way to wrap up the story quickly and didn't need a lot of explaining. There was a good amount of romance and intrigue to keep me going, but not enough to get 5 stars.

Overall, a pleasant story with likable characters and an interesting twist. Worth the 4 stars and I will definitely try something else written by Gabrielle Williams

On the cover 

 

Now that I've read the book I can understand what that sparkly cross means. Why sparklers though? I guess because they are used during special occasions, and this journey will always be remembered in the characters hearts? All I know is that I think it's an awesome cover and I'm drawn to it!

What I'm reading next: Just One Year by Gayle Forman

 

DIY Heart Baubles

I recently got engaged and am underway organising my engagment party. I love doing crafts and wanted to make some of the decorations myself. I found this great tutorial on how to make 3D Heart Christams Baubles so I followed the pattern, except my baubles have five sides instead of seven.

Materials needed:

• Scrapbooking paper (mine is double sided, twice the amount of designs)
• Bakers Twine
• Glue
• Scissors

Step 1.

Using a template cut out all your shapes. For my design you wil use five hearts to make the bauble.

Step 2.

Fold all your hearts in half, with the design you want on the inside of the fold.

Step 3.

Glue one out side of your heart only.

Step 4.

Using another heart, press one side of it to the glued edge of the other heart.

Press down firmly and make sure the hearts are even from top to bottom.

Repeat this until you have one more heart to glue down.

Step 5.

Add glue to the whole side of the heart and place the bakers twine down the middle of the two hearts.

Using the last heart, press it to the glued sides.

Press down and once again make sure the hearts are even from top to bottom.

 

Here is your final product. I decided to make nine but I may make more depending on the rest of my decorations for the engagement party.

 

What have you created lately?

 

 

This is not a test, it wasn't the best.

This is not a test by Courtney Summers

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
323 pages
Released: June 2012
Buy it @ book depository

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Review

 

This was one of those books that I've been dying to read for a while, and when I finally did read it I was a little disappointed. I wasn't expecting a zombie novel with lots of blood & gore because I knew that it wasn't all about that. I get that there was more to this novel, but it wasn't doing it for me.

This is a story about six teenagers trying to survive the zombie apocalypse, and as I mentioned earlier it's more than that. There's issues of death, abuse, suicide and under-age sex to name a few. Very hard hitting at times.

Courtney Summers writes a fantastic book with realistic characters that have flaws. I think I have a love/hate relationship with her books because I enjoy the writing and the story but I usually dislike the characters. As with her books, nothing is off limits and intimate issues are discussed.

There are a few squeamish zombie moments in this, but it's good for someone who scares easily because they're not that bad. Overall I'm glad I read it, but I couldn't connect with the characters.

On the cover

 

I like this cover but not as much as the normal book cover. They are very similar with the hair flowing across the face and the light blue. The cover shows an actual scene that happens in the book, well I'm pretty sure anyway.

What I'm listening to next: More than this by Patrick Ness

 

 

 

Neon Nails using ChiChi polish

These nails were a lot of fun and so simple. The best tip I can give you with using neon colour nail polish is to put a coat of white nail polish on first and then put the neon colour on over the white. It makes the colour more vibrant. I used a toothpick to pick out the little bits of glitter and positioned them around my nails. I used the nail polish set below to create both the designs in this post.

With this mani I painted some white nail polish on first using the Sinful Colors I'm holding in the picture, then I picked 5 of the colours above and simply painted one side with one colour and continued it along to all the other fingers and the other colours.

What manicure are you wearing at the moment?

How to get inside a serial killers head

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Rating: 4 out of 5 hearts
361 Pages
Released: April 2012
Buy it @ book depository

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

Review

This book should come with a warning "Not for the faint hearted"! It was very disturbing at times. But don't think that I didn't like it, because I did!

Serial killer Billy Dent has taught his son, Jazz Dent, everything there is to know about how to kill people and get rid of their bodies - how to become the perfect serial killer just like him. Jazz doesn't want to like his dad though and tries hard to get him out of his head, which is hard when dead bodies start showing up in his local town. Jazz desperately wants to help the police in figuring out who the killer is. As the bodies pile up will they be able to find the killer before he/she moves on? You will have to read to find out.

Jazz is a hard character to like - he's a bit like Dexter (for any one who has ever watched that show like me). In the TV show you come to love Dexter because he has real feelings and is a good person even though he has evil tendencies and wants to kill people. Jazz is similar because he hunts down serial killers like Dexter except he doesn't kill them. Jazz is trying to fit into society after his father is convicted and thrown into jail. Before this Jazz had been there for all of "Dear Old Dad's" triple number kills, he didn't witness them all but he may well have because his father would give him a play by play how it happened. Poor kid!

The secondary characters were very easy to like. Jazz's best friend, Howie, is a hemophiliac (someone who's blood is thin and would bleed out quite quickly with a small cut). He has a quirky sense of humor and lightens, at times, a dark novel.

Then there's Connie, Jazz's level headed African-American girlfriend and lastly G. William, who is the typical round, older sheriff of the town. He already has a connection with Jazz because of their past, but they become closer as the book goes on.

There's a little twist at the end and I didn't guess who the killer was which as always is a good thing. I can not wait to read the rest of the books. Even though this is in the teen books, I think adults who love crime would love this series. I don't recommend this to younger teens, some sections are gruesome.

On the cover

This cover depicts the grisly things you can expect on the inside, blood splatter and all. This time you can definitely judge a book by it's cover.

What I'm reading next: The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams