Top 5 YA Fantasy Series

Hello everyone! 

This post is probably going to show my age, so let's kick things off with me saying that as a 24 year old woman I can sadly no longer class myself as a young adult. However, being a fully fledged adult does not mean I don't still enjoy reading YA as a genre. If you are old, like me, when you were a teen YA didn't really exist and all those books came under teen fiction. YA sprang to life when I had already passed into adulthood, so forgive me if some of these books blur into other age groups. 

Long intro aside, I am here today to give you a brief over-view of my top 5 YA fantasy series :-) They are in no particular order!

1. The Great Library by Rachel Caine

These books are for those of you who love books about libraries. They follow Jess as he integrates the Great Library of Alexandria on the orders of his book smuggler father. He was born into the brutal world of smuggling illegal books around the world, with no mercy shown to those who are caught by the library. Overtime the library has seized control of the world, rationing books and knowledge to only those deemed worthy. This provides and ideal environment for anarchy to grow. The anarchists like to burn: books, libraries, cities. They value human life above books. Now Jess is stuck somewhere between the two. His love of books makes him want to protect them, but his even fiercer love of his friends is tearing him in two. 

2. Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Sabriel is missing, I lent her to a friend :-)

The Abhorsen series has been going on for years, I read the first three books when I was still a teen! The book starts with Sabriel, the daughter of the Abhorsen crossing the wall into the Old Kingdom to find take up her heritage. As the Abhorsen-in-waiting she has to learn how to use the 7 bells to banish creatures returning from the rivers of death. This might sound a bit gruesome to some of my more squeamish readers, but I promise you these books are gripping. The next few books bring more main characters into play, creating a complex landscape of inter-woven stories. 

3. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke  

I love these books so much, Dustfinger was the first male character I ever truly fell in love with. This story follows Meggie and her father Mo as they run from the criminal Capricorn. Capricorn is no normal villain, he is the villain of a storybook, plucked out of his own story by Mo's silver tongue. Meggie has inherited Mo's gift, but she also has a gift of her own. Her written words can alter the story she is reading, but this comes with a price when she reads herself into a story she has rapidly lost control of. This series blurs the lines between the real and the written in the most fantastic ways :-) 

4. Tales Of The Otori by Lian Hearn 

Again, some books are missing! 

The Tales Of The Otori are loosely set in medieval Japan with elements of magic. Takeo was born in a remote village, worshiping a forbidden god. When his village and family are massacred he discovers he has mysterious skills, skills some may call magic. These skills mark him as a member of the Tribe, but his skills surpass even their levels of normal. He is the most powerful Tribe member for many generations, transforming him into a hunted man. Add to this his heritage as an Otori and a forbidden romance with the most beautiful woman in the empire and you have one hell of a good story! This book is for lovers of Game Of Thrones and The White Queen. 

5. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

This series being on the list will not surprise anyone. Cassandra Clare is well known as the queen of YA fiction after her Mortal Instruments series shook the world. Don't get me wrong, I love that series, but this one struck me more. Tessa is such an interesting character fighting between her feelings for two different men and her own strong morals. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it follows Tessa, a young american woman arriving in London to meet her brother. Her brother never shows and she is kidnapped by the terrible Dark Sisters who torture her into revealing her ability to change into any person she chooses as long as she has access to a personal item of theirs. If this wasn't enough, she is drawn into the world of the Shadow Hunters, sworn to fight demons invading our realm. Among these are Jem and Will, two men as different as night and day, but both quickly staking claims on her heart. She must join their ranks to fight not only demons, but The Magister's harsh destructive automatons which threaten to over-run the world. 

I hope this hasn't rambled on too much for all of you! Please let me know your favourite YA fantasy series in the comments below :-) I'm always looking for new recommendations! 

xoxo

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Why You Should Read Mansfield Park

Hello everyone, 

This year is going to be the year of the chunky classics. I'm planning on sinking my teeth into as many as possible, starting with Mansfield Park by Jane Austen! I did cheat a little bit with this one and started it in 2017, carrying it over into the new year to wrap it up, but I am so glad I started with this one :-)

I have been a fan of Jane Austen since I was a child, I loved watching the tv and movie adaptations and I devoured Sense and Sensibility! From there I went on to read all her shorter novels, with Persuasion reigning as my long term favourite. Then I read Mansfield Park and boy did it knock Persuasion off its pedestal! So I am here today, singing the praises of my new favourite Austen, to give you 5 reasons why you should read this book. 

1. Fanny Price is the most fascinating heroine I have ever encountered

As a general rule novels are either character or plot driven, with the majority of character driven books being dictated by the protagonist. This is not the case in Mansfield Park. Fanny Price is so passive that she is almost invisible. I have never read a novel with a heroine you barely notice! She just bobs along following her cousins and their friends, reflecting on their decisions and predicting the outcomes of their poor choices. She is the ultimate advocate for patience, showing that if you make choices selflessly and based on good morals you will eventually get what you want. 

2. This book is laugh out loud funny!

I found so many of these characters completely ridiculous that I couldn't help laughing out loud at their antics. In my mind the winner of the most ridiculous person award goes to Henry Crawford. This man is such a pompous ass, in fact he is almost a caricature of the typical womaniser of Jane Austen's day. He makes sport of causing young women to fall in love with him, filling his jar of hearts everywhere he goes. Sounds familiar for some men (and women) of our day too right? However, he meets his match with Fanny. He chases her for so long to no avail that he convinces himself he is in love with her! Obviously he isn't really, it is a case of wanting desperately that which he can never have. A very good taste of his own medicine if you ask me. 

3. Hating a literary character is a lot of fun

I'm assuming many of you have read Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, or at least watched the movie. Is Dolores Umbridge not one of the most hateful characters you have ever read? Well Fanny's Aunt Norris certainly gives her a run for her money. I hated her from my first encounter with her, she is mean spirited, snobbish and controlling. She despises Fanny for no better reason than the circumstances of her birth and idolises Maria for being high-born and beautiful, despite Fanny being a far nicer person than Maria could ever be. Reading her downfall at the end of the book and watching her get the social isolation she deserves is so much fun! 

4. Mansfield Park is a clever piece of social commentary

This book shows close up the very common practice of poor relations handing one or more children over to wealthier relatives to raise and house as their own. In the days before birth control family sizes could get a bit out of control and sending your children away wasn't seen as harsh, but as a kindness. Fanny is a recipient of this "kindness". Theoretically it should be great for her going to live with richer "betters", but in reality she is never truly accepted as one of their own. She lives in that twilight zone of better than a servant, but not as good as one of the children. It is a hard place for her to live and gives her all her strong morals and very dutiful nature. The commentary is seen most strongly when Sir Thomas (Fanny's uncle) urges her to accept Henry Crawford's proposal of marriage based on his lineage and wealth. Sir Thomas purposefully ignores his questionable morals and improper behaviour, growing angry at Fanny's protestations that she does not love him and would be miserable. In those days women were almost forced to marry men they did not care for on a daily basis and this is something Jane Austen spent her whole life rebelling against. Obviously there are more areas of social commentary than this, but I chose this as an example because I felt it to be the moist poignant. 

5. There is romance in abundance! 

So many people read Jane Austen's novels for the romance and it is definitely not lacking in this story. There is something here for everyone! The unrequited love of Julia for Henry Crawford is touching and cute, making you reminisce about all the silly crushes you had when you were young. Edmund and Mary's love burns bright and passionately, with arguments causing sparks to fly. This one definitely reminds you of that destructive relationship you held onto for too long. Maria and Mr. Rushworth have a selfish form of love, with Maria loving his money and status far more than she loves the man himself. Henry Crawford's pursuit of Fanny is comical and laughable, it made me want to reach into the pages and shake Fanny saying "please don't fall for this man, he doesn't really love you!" And finally, the slow-burning natural love of Edmund and Fanny is the cherry on top of a wonderful bookish cake. Fanny loves Edmund for years, supporting him and advising him even when it pushed him into the arms of another. She is so selfless and kind, that you wish for Edmund to love her almost as much as she does. Eventually he comes to his senses and realises that he what he desperately wanted to see in Mary Crawford has always been there in Fanny Price if he had only cared to look :-) 

Those are my reasons to read Mansfield Park and if they don't persuade you nothing will! I wish I could go back and read this book from scratch all over again, but as I can't do that, instead I'll look forward to the many times I will be re-reading it. I hope you enjoyed this post, if you've read this book let me know your thoughts on it in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

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Christmas Book Haul

Hello everyone! 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and festive period if you don't celebrate Christmas itself! I had a wonderfully relaxing time, just spending quality time with my family and pets and, of course, eating all the food :-) 

It wouldn't be the holidays if I didn't receive at least one book, my friends and family know they are one of my major passions and tend to taylor their gifts around that. So here are the books I was lucky enough to get! 

Four of these books were from the wonderful Mr.GingerSnap. He is responsible for my acquiring the whole Discworld Collectors Library. For those of you who don't know, Terry Pratchett is my favourite author of all time and I was so excited to see they had started bringing out the Discworld series in these beautiful editions. When they stopped at Jingo I was so frustrated at potentially only ever having half of the collection! Luckily the second publishing house got on board and they have been bringing out four more every year. This years round are Going Postal, Thief Of Time, Monstrous Regiment and Night Watch. 

Going Postal follows Moist Von Lipwig as he is faced with the choice of being executed as a criminal or attempting the impossible task of reviving the Ankh-Morpork post office. Needless to say he chooses the option he is most likely to survive. The story shows all his hilarious ups and downs as he brings back good old snail mail and thrives on a new and honest business. 

Nightwatch is the next book in the City Watch collection, following Sam Vimes and his never ending fight against crime in the city. Sam Vimes is the ultimate under-dog, he tries so hard and has all sorts thrown at him, from dragons, crazy wizards and talking dogs to being knighted and sent to parlay with vampires!  

Thief Of Time is the next one in the Death collection. The anthropomorphism of Death is my favourite character choice of all time, he is so sassy and such a bad-ass really. In this book Death uncovers plans to create a clock destroying time and human mortality, unable to intervene himself he sends his grand-daughter Susan to the rescue...

Monstrous Regiment is all about women's rights and how having a war in your country changes the rules and freedom of women. There is a war on in the Discworld and it's about time women stepped up to fill the gaps men usually fill, with hilarious and heart-rending results. 

H. G. Wells is one of my favourite authors and the fact that he has been included so many times in the Penguin English Library makes me very happy. I have read all of his other works so I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Invisible Man. The tale follows Griffin, a man who is searching for the antidote to invisibility and he is willing to go to ANY length to achieve this. 

Finally we have Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, well done if you made it this far through the post! I don't really know a lot about this book, but it's a Penguin Classic so it must be good! Naturally it follows Ethan Frome, a farmer struggling to make ends meet and reach the unreasonable standards set by his wife. His life changes suddenly when his wife's cousin comes to help them, obsessed with her, Ethan tries to picture a way to be happy. 

Wow, that was a longer post than I was expecting to write. I hope some of these books have piqued your interest. I certainly can't wait to dive into them! What did you guys get for Christmas? Any good books? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

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Broken Moon by Sarah Beth Moore - Review

Hello everyone, 

I am back again today with a spoiler free review of Broken Moon by Sarah Beth Moore. Sarah approached me about her upcoming book, asking for an honest review in exchange for the ARC (advanced reader copy) of the book, but don't you guys worry, my gratitude to the author has in no way influenced my opinions on the story :-)

Broken Moon follows Naiya and her adopted brothers Pip and Enoch as they run from the guards and officials ruling their spectacularly corrupt city. Naiya has always treated the law as more of a guideline than a rule, making her living in the family business of scavenging old tech for sale to the highest bidder. Her family are her number one priority and she loves them more than anything else, which makes the suicide of her sister a most devastating blow. Just before her suicide, Amy gives Naiya a cryptic message to not trust the lies she has been told. This leaves Naiya with nothing but questions. Questions she does not have time to answer as she flees her home. Leaving the city undetected seems an impossible task and should not be delayed, but Naiya needs to answer the questions about her past, family and future. 

Rating - 4 stars! 

Positives: Good racial diversity, excellent world-building and believable characters 

Negatives: No tugging on the heart strings. Sarah I want you to make me cry next time! 

For lovers of: City Of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau, Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Divergent by Veronica Roth

This book is a fantastic blend of YA fantasy, sci-fi and dystopia, Sarah manages to seamlessly blend these three genres to create a riveting first instalment in what I'm sure will be a killer series! The idea of a tiered, industrialised city was very interesting and the description was spot on for making you feel like you were there, without tipping over into overly descriptive. I could hear the hustle and bustle, smell the grime and taste the scent of pollution as I was reading. 

It's not just the setting which felt real, the characters were highly relatable. In so many YA fantasy books the romance takes centre stage, eclipsing the whole quest story-line. I don't know about you, but someone trying to murder me would feel like a more pressing point than "ooh my crush just smiled at me, what could it possibly mean?!". Yes Naiya has a love interest, what YA protagonist doesn't, but this is background information. Her feelings are something she reflects on occasionally, never letting it over-ride her survival instinct. This felt more realistic, as did her reactions to all situations surrounding her family, rivals and strangers. However, I do think there is room for the romance to progress in the next book and I am excited about where it will lead, especially given how dreamy Enoch is! 

When it came to the narrative pace I was pleasantly surprised. Sarah never faltered in keeping the story flowing, effortlessly guiding the reader from location to location and easily introducing new characters. My one slightly negative comment is the character of Chen. I feel like she was introduced well, but without a huge purpose in the story. I would have liked to learn more about her and am hoping to do so in the next books. 

Well that's it for today, I hope you enjoyed this review and make sure to stay tuned for another post coming on Tuesday! :-) 

xoxo

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Where The Heck I've Been!

Hello everyone! 

It has been such a long time since I last sat down to blog that I am almost ashamed to start up again, but here I am. I never intended to be away so long, but life has a funny habit of running away with you. So I thought I'd re-introduce my blog and explain where on earth I have been for the last 12 months (12 months?!? How has it been so long?). 

2016 to 2017 was the year of my final exams, after 5 years of study I was going to end my academic career with a gruelling 33 exams in 2 weeks! Some of those exams were short practicals, but I count them all the same. Needless to say it put a lot of pressure on me. I felt like I should be studying non-stop and prioritising this over all else. That meant putting a lot of time consuming hobbies on hold, unfortunately the first to go was blogging, closely followed by dance and swimming. Looking back this was a silly idea, I should have cut back not cut out completely. Staying sane when you don't allow yourself downtime is almost impossible and it left me a stressed out wreck! Moral of the story: work-life balance is not something to sniff at! 

As always, Tiger-Lilly likes to help with revision!

Exhausted mess that I was, I still managed to drag my bum onto a 36 hour flight to New Zealand with Mr. GingerSnap. He lived there for 8 months, working as a dairy farmer and I have always wanted to see all the places he tells me stories about. His tales filled my head with pictures of a magical place where everyone is relaxed and the world is your oyster. This was not just nostalgic dreaming. I, like him, fell head over heels in love with it. The people, the scenery, the food and the way we spent time out there were truly perfect. It was the best holiday I have ever had and going back is now number one on our To Do List :-) 

When we got back I had every intention of sitting down with my laptop and blogging, but then I was offered my dream job. How could I say no to a position as a vet dealing with many pet exotics in the heart of beautiful Cornwall? So Mr. Gingersnap and I upped sticks again and moved a couple of counties over. Since then we have been settling into our new life and organising our home, no small task by the way! 

That brings us up to speed, I think. As I write I am sat snuggled up in a blanket on our sofa, glancing up at our gorgeous Christmas tree, enjoying a cinnamon tea and the scent of our festive pomegranate candle, feeling grateful for the last year's ups and downs. Hopefully this is it, I am back to blogging! I have a great many ideas I want to work on and plan to post as regularly as I was before my blip, so sit back and enjoy the flood of posts :-) 

xoxo

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Autumn OOTD and Beauty Essentials Collaboration With Simplly Me

Hi,

This is Simplly Me from Simplly Me Blog! 

Today I’m writing a guest post for GingerSnapHattie’s blog!

I absolutely love her blog and it was really really fun collaborating with her because she is a wonderful and amazing person. Also this is my first ever blog collaboration and I’m so excited and Hattie this whole experience really fun and exciting.

But, before I start I wanted to tell you a bit about me and my blog:

My name is Simplly Me and I’m currently in school, I spend most of my time writing and photographing for my little section on the internet, Simplly Me Blog. When I’m not busy blog writing I’m probably baking, reading, watching YouTube, hanging out with friends or doing homework. (Ugh!) On my blog it is based on Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle. If you like those genres then hopefully you’ll enjoy my blog!

Anyway, for my part of the collaboration I'm doing an Autumn OOTD and an Autumn Beauty Essentials. I really hope you enjoy this post and remember to keep reading GingerSnapHattie's blog it's brilliant!

Autumn OOTD:

This burgundy checked flannel shirt is from New Look. I think this top is perfect for Autumn because Burgundy is my favorite Autumn color so I really like to wear this to feel really nice and Autumnal. I don't know the actual price of this top but I bought it for £1 at New Look on sale. Bargain! I know right?! This top is also perfect for Autumnal weather because it’s not too thick but not too thin so it keeps you warm but not boiling hot. I also like how it has this really cute collar which I think is a nice touch.

To pair with my top I wore a Black A-Line Skirt from New Look. I really like A-Line skirts because I think that they just really suit me and my figure. Also I think that these are a real wardrobe staple because you can easily dress this skirt up with a classy shirt or wear it more casual with a sweater so I think it’s a very versatile piece.

When I wore these two pieces I tucked my top into skirt. I think this is the best way to style this because this top is quite long so in my opinion to have it untucked may look a bit weird. If it’s a colder Autumn day then I'll just add a pair of black tights. And then finally for the shoes I’ll just wear a pair of black flats or some black boots.

Autumn Beauty Essentials:

So now onto the beauty part of this blog post. I’m a real beauty lover so of course I had to include a few of my Autumn faves.

Wild Argan Oil Hand Cream 

My hands are literally always dry but, when in its Autumn/Winter it doesn’t make the situation any better... Sooooo, to solve this I bought The Body Shop Wild Argan Oil Hand Cream. I absolutely love this product! After I apply it it keeps my hands all nice and moisturized and removes all the dryness from my hands. Also, the product smells AMAZING! I absolutely love this scent, at first I just picked it up because it was quite a different scent but I’m different going to picking more products in the Wild Argan Oil Range.

Clean & Clear Dual-Action Moisturizer 

I use this product all year round because it’s part of my skincare routine but I wanted to include this because I think this product is vital for Autumn/Winter. The product I’m talking about is the Clean & Clear Dual-Action Moisturizer. I use this in my skincare routine because I have combination skin so my T-Zone is oily but the rest of my skin is quite dry. Sooooo, to solve that issue, I tried this moisturizer and absolutely loved it! Also this is oil-free so if you have oily skin then it’s a good moisturizer to have.

The Body Shop Born Lippy Strawberry LipBalm 

My lips are unbelievably dry so always have to have lip balm with me at all times of the year and especially at Autumn/Winter. I normally use the Born Lippy Strawberry Lip Balm from The Body Shop which I actually love because it keeps my lips very soft and keeps them to not be as dry as a bone. Also this is only £2 which makes it really affordable as well. (In the photo I included my Primark Lip Balm instead because I couldn’t find my Born Lippy.)

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this collaboration and I hope that you’ll carry on reading Simplly Me and GingerSnapHattie. 

What’s your favorite thing about Autumn?

xoxo

Blogger Recognition Award

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful sunny Wednesday, I certainly am. I'm sat in the sun as I write this, happily grinning away to myself at how lucky I am to be nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by the lovely Izzy K. Thank you :-) 

The Blogger Recognition Award is a lovely way of showing support to other bloggers and sending out some smiles into the community. I'm so happy to have been nominated and am really enjoying writing this post, as the nomination does come with a couple of rules: 

• Write a post about your award 
• Show some love to the blogger who nominated you 
• Tell you readers a little bit about why you first decided to blog 
• Share your top two tips with new bloggers 
• Nominated 15 other blogs or bloggers for the award 

It took me a long time to pluck up the courage to join the blogging community, I was a regular reader of many other beauty, cooking, lifestyle and literature blogs. I thought to myself "hey, I could really enjoy doing that". Then one otherwise uninteresting day I took the plunge and started this page. I have always loved to write and thought it would be a lovely hobby, as well as a great way to start conversations about things that I love. Since then, my blog has grown and I have continued to enjoy interacting with other bloggers and readers. I am full of excitement about what the future could hold for my little corner of the internet :-) 

So you want to start blogging or are very new to the blogosphere... My top advice would be to write about your passions. If you aren't interested in a topic it will show in the posts, people want to read about you getting excited and enjoying life! If you write posts like that people will find your content engaging and interesting. My second piece of advice is to not be afraid! Don't worry about how people will react to your post, or if you may get nasty comments. You can block negative people! Write from the heart and people will be lovely to you. I have to say that my experience so far has been continuously positive! 

Wowee this part was hard! There are so many truly inspiring bloggers out there, it was hard to choose, but because I had to... here they are: 

• Smiley Central
• British Mermaid 
• Oh January
• Oh So Becky
• The Makeup Directory
• Badass Vampire
• Emilys Thoughts
• Dorkface
• "Ice Cream" Whispers Clara 
• Amy Evans 
• Tea Party Beauty 
• Denis Day
• Hale
• Velvet Blush 
• The Black Blush

Please head on over and check out their wonderful blogs! Let me know in the comments below if there is any content you are dying to see on the blog :-) 

xoxo

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