Film Review: If I Stay

Wow! Where do I begin? When this film was released in the cinema I'd heard a lot of good reviews, but hadn't really spent the time to research into what it was. I got The Fault in Our Stars DVD for Christmas and as I was skipping through the trailers before it started one came up that caught my eye, and I stood in the middle of my living room fixed to the TV until it ended. I instantly went and ordered the DVD so I could watch it. I'm so pleased I did.

The film follows Mia, a high school girl with an amazing musical talent. She meets Adam, a high school senior with a promising music career ahead of him, and they fall into an amazing relationship. Before you get the chance to learn much about Mia's life, family, and relationship, there's a serious car crash which Mia and her family are involved in.

The story follows Mia in the aftermath of the crash. She's stuck in limbo as she watches her family being taken to the hospital, fighting for their lives, debating whether she should stay on Earth or move into the light. As it progresses you get to learn a lot more about Mia, her life, her relationships, and how everyone around her feels at the thought of loosing her.

The cast is perfect for this film. Mia and Adam have amazing chemistry, and their lives come across as so ordinary and normal. Their lives and relationship could be happening to any normal teenager.

I'm struggling to find the words to express how amazing this film is. It is so emotional, I cried throughout, I'm left feeling a bit empty in side, but I would quite happily press play on the DVD remote and watch it all over again.

It is, without a doubt, one of the best films I ever seen.

Sarah x

Book Review: The McLaughlins Book 1, 2 and 3.

Good Girl Gone Plaid (Book 1), Kilty Pleasure (Book 2) & Loch and Key (Book 3)

of The McLaughlins

by Shelli Stevens

 

I'll be honest and say, if it wasn't for the fact that Amazon are giving the Kindle version of Good Girl Gone Plaid away for free, I wouldn't have read these books. After finishing my last book, I was looking for something light to read but something that would keep my attention, and this series did just that.

The McLaughlin series is a collection of 4 books based around the 4 siblings in the McLaughlin family; Aleck, Colin, Ian and Kenzie. The stories are all based around the love life of the characters and the troubles they face. So far only 3 books have been released, with the final book in series due out in 3 days time.

Romance books aren't really my thing. I've read a few Nicholas Sparks books, and enjoyed them, but I normally prefer books that take me to completely different worlds. I liked these books for there ease to read and how different the stories were, despite being set on such a small island. There are a lot of sex scenes in these books, which can be quite detailed but no where near the extent Fifty Shades went too. My only real complaint is that they weren't slightly longer (I read each one in a couple of hours).

So, if you're looking for something easy and fun to read, give these a go. They're enjoyable romantic books to distract you from normal world for a while. I'm sure the fourth will be just as good as the others when it comes out too.

Sarah x

Book Review: Theif's Magic - Book 1 of Millennium's Rule

Thief's Magic: Book 1 of Millennium's Rule

by Trudi Canavan

In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen's world faces.

Elsewhere, in a land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer's daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it - should she dare to risk the Angels' wrath.

But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands.

Not even the people they trust.

I am a massive fan of Trudi Canavan's work, and couldn't wait to get stuck into her new series. The book is set in a whole new fantasy world with magic and magic users throughout. However, when I realised this book was split into parts, I wasn't sure I was going to like it as much as some of the other's Trudi Canavan has written. I'd loved the intro to Tyen and his story, and was disappointed to be moving on to someone else. But it only took a few pages for me to fall in love Rielle and her story. I even felt disappointed to be leaving her and returning to Tyen when the point arose, but once more I was hooked and that cycle of emotions kept repeating all the way to the end.

The stories of Tyen and Rielle are completely different from each other, but I love how their cultures and stories contrast. Neither faces the same decisions nor problems. Tyen is an academic in a land where magic is freely available and used by those who know how. Trying to prove he can become something more than just a machine operator, he discovers a magical book in a tomb and makes the decision to keep it to himself with the aim of proving it's worth to the academy and educating it in the process. When his plan backfires he is forced to run, his chances of ever graduating or working at the university gone.

Whereas Rielle is in a land where only the Priests who are chosen by the Angels can use magic. Anyone else caught is branded a Tainted and outcast from the city. Knowing she has the ability to sense magic and could, if she chose to, learn to use magic Rielle has kept her power secret from everyone. We experience her first love and the torment she puts herself through as she is torn between love and family. But it is not long until the young girl is tricked into a situation she can't get out of without using magic and displeasing the Angels. Faced with an even more difficult decision as to who to keep happy, Rielle takes an option but it soon turns out for the worst.

As both set off on their adventures, it is possible to imagine a way in which the two characters could meet but I suspect there is a lot more twists and turns to come before we ever get to that point, if we ever do. If you prefer reading books that only follow one story throughout, then maybe this isn't for you, but if you're open to different stories with a subtle link throughout, I'm sure you'll love this.

I personally cannot wait for the next book to see how the two stories pan out. This is an excellent beginning to what I'm sure is going to be another excellent trilogy by a wonderful author.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Sarah x

Birthday Celebrations and Holidays!

Apologies for the quietness for the past few weeks, I've been busy celebrating my 23rd Birthday and enjoying a lovely family holiday in the Lake District. I haven't been the best with diet and exercise whilst I've been MIA from blogging but I don't think I've overindulged too much, and I have done a lot of walking in the past seven days, so I'm hoping there isn't too much damage...but we'll find that out on my next weekly weigh in!

I've had some amazing birthday meals and a great holiday, so thought I'd share what I'd been up to and recommend some great places to go if you're ever in the areas.

P.S. this is going to be a long one...Sorry! I'm making up for my absence.

Birthday Celebration 1 - Las Iguanas, Newcastle upon Tyne with Chris

I forgot I'd signed up to Las Iguana's email offers, so was very surprised the week before my birthday to receive an email offering me a free main meal for my birthday. This was an offer I couldn't let go to waste so I managed to convince Chris to join me for a Mexican birthday meal.

I've been to Las Iguanas in Newcastle a few times and it's always busy, definitely book a table if you plan to go! Thankfully Chris had done so for us, otherwise it was a 45 min wait for a table. It's not the biggest of places and because it's always busy it was quite noisy. But we didn't mind.

The waiters were very friendly and helpful, and when they found out we were celebrating my birthday they brought me a free (non-alcoholic) passionfruit and orange cocktail. It probably wouldn't have been my first choice from the drinks menu, but it was a very nice alternative to diet cokes.

My free drink!

We opted against getting starters and just went straight to the mains. Chris went for The Classic Burger with fries, and I went for Our Famous Fajitas with Chicken Breast Strips and added Cheese.

Chris' Burger

My Chicken 

My Wraps and Extras

I cannot fault my food at all, it was perfect. The chicken was nicely flavoured and spicy, the sauces (salsa & sour cream) were both very smooth and tasty, the veg was fried lovely, and the wraps were really warm. Chris said, and I quote, "It was delish" when I asked about his burger.

We both decided as a birthday treat to get desserts, naughty choice but totally worth it. I had an absolutely huge slice of chocolate orange fudge cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake was beautiful. Very soft and moist, the sauce was hot, very chocolatey and had a strong taste of orange, but not too overpowering. It was probably one of the nicest fudge cakes I've had in a long time. Chris choose just to have ice cream but regretted that choice when he saw my cake. Moral of the story, always go for the chocolate cake if you're being naughty and having dessert anyway.

Overall it was very good birthday celebrations with a very good friend.

Birthday Celebration 2 - Rialtos, Northumberland with Omar and DVDs

As we weren't going to get to spend my birthday together this year as I was away on holiday, Omar took me after work to our favourite little Italian restaurant in his village. We've been a few times before and never really had a bad meal so I was quite happy to go again for my birthday.

We both chose to have starters of potato skins with garlic sauce, and then a main each. I had penne arribiata, and Omar had a kiev pizza. My pasta was lovely, very fresh and a good size portion but very spicy. I struggled to finish it because of how spicy it was, and wouldn't have got even close to finishing it without the glass of water and diet coke I drank. It was still very nice and I would most likely have it again. Omar's pizza was a very good size but didn't have as much taste as he's had in some of their other pizzas. It was still very fresh and very good for the price.

Full from our starters and mains we opted not to have dessert and enjoyed the nice walk back in the sunshine to his house for some chocolates and DVDs. I got spoilt with my birthday presents from him and his Mum.

I got a bit forgetful at this point and didn't think to take photos of our lovely food. Next time I'll try doubly hard to remember!

Birthday Celebration 3 - Caffe Riva, Bowness upon Windermere with Mum and Dad

What an amazing meal! After considering a few different places to go for food in Bowness we ended up in Caffe Riva, a little Italian on the main road down from town to the lake which has only been open under the current owners for  2 months.

We arrived without a booking and were greeted by a very nice waitress who went to see if there was a table for us, there wasn't, but she was very friendly and helpful and said there would only be a twenty minute wait for a table. As everywhere else we'd passed seemed just as busy we decided to wait and took a seat near the bar.

The drinks menu wasn't too badly priced, in my opinion, we paid £12 for a bottle of Pinot Grigio and £5 for a pint of Peroni. We thought we would just order at the bar whilst we waited but as my Mum got off her seat another very helpful waiter came over and took our order. We only waited a few minutes before the drinks arrived, along with a small bowl of peanuts. Enough to keep us going until we got our table.

The overall wait for a table wasn't long and the staff were very friendly and apologetic as we waited, regularly asking if there was anything they could get us and talking us through the specials menu. We soon got our table, placed our orders and our food arrived a little while after. And it was unbelievable.

I chose Breaded Chicken Escalope with Linguine Napoli, expecting a small portion of pasta and one piece of reasonable sized chicken I was very surprised when my plate arrived. I had a portion of pasta that I would have expected from any other Italian as a main course on it's own and two massive chicken breast escalopes. I wish I'd taken a picture of it because it was so amazing. Everything on the plate was so fresh that I just had to keep eating, even when I felt full. The food was so nice I couldn't stop eating. I even ignored a lot of the garlic bread pizza we'd got to go with the mains because the food was just so nice, and I never ignore garlic bread!

My Mum had linguini with cream, egg, parmesan and pancetta. Again the portion size was unbelievable, but again she battled through and ate the majority. I didn't try any of hers but she assured me it was just as nice as all of ours, and it did look it.

But I think the best meal of the night was what my dad ordered. Fregole alla Riva. Fregole (which is little pasta balls that look like risotto but taste and cook like pasta) with bacon, roasted red peppers, caramelised onions, spinach, in a light creamy sauce. I had a taste and it was absolutely gorgeous. I'd never had Fregole before but I will definitely be having it again. Such amazing flavours and textures all mixed beautifully together. It was a special on the night and came recommended to us by the manager, and he wasn't lying to us when he said it was good. Again, the portion size was unreal but it was so nice my Dad ate every little bit.

We were too full after mains to consider deserts but I'm sure they would have been just as amazing.

Possibly one of the best things about the restaurant was seeing the Manager's daughter helping out. I'm not good with guessing ages but I'd suspect she was about eight years old, and all night she followed her Mum or Dad around taking orders, handing out bills and making some drinks. It was so nice to see the interaction the whole family had with the restaurant and how welcoming they were to all their customers.

As we left the manager asked how we'd found everything and we openly said it was amazing. He turned to his daughter, put his arm round her and said "See Francesca, I told you we would do well". It was lovely to see how involved the whole family was the restaurant, and how much they all cared about it doing well.

I really like Italian food and I have a list of places that I think does nice Italian food, but this place tops the list. Everyone was so friendly, the food was amazing and I'll definitely be returning.

Holiday Accommodation - Windermere Marina Village

I love the Lakes and have stayed in a few different locations, in a variety of different accommodation types. I love Bowness on Windermere. The lake is gorgeous, the town is small but has a variety of different independent and high-street stores, as well as loads of cafes and restaurants to choose from. Windermere Marina Village is slightly out of the way, a ten to fifteen minute walk, of the hustle and bustle of the town centre, but it's worth the walk.

We stayed in a 2 bed Ghyll Cottage in the Marina Village, able to sleep up to 6 people. The cottage is an up-side-down cottage with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms downstairs, and an open plan kitchen/living area upstairs with a balcony overlooking the marina and the boats. It was gorgeous. Everything was so clean and tidy, the kitchen was really modern, the beds and sofas were comfy, the bathrooms were spotlessly clean and had amazing showers. You couldn't fault the quality of the place.

The village has it's own private beach leading right onto the waterside, with two bbq areas, jetties and picnic tables; a pub and restaurant right in the heart of the marina, and lots of boats to admire. I didn't want to come home at all! It's not the cheapest place to stay but if you want peace and quiet, and amazing views (if you like boats and water anyway) I can't recommend this place any more.

The Private Beach

View over the lake from the Private Beach

The views as you walk around the lake into town

Views on the walk

Panoramic View from our Balcony

View from the Balcony as I enjoyed my Kindle

Day Out - South Lakes Safari Park

I loved the safari park. I've been to zoos before and they've been amazing but this was something else. The safari park is split in two areas, one is very much like a zoo with animals kept separate in their own areas not really mixing with other animals but with plenty of space to roam around, the other had everything running everywhere. You were walking along pavements with lima's jumping over your head. It was unreal.

You don't get to touch the animals but you are so close you could if you wanted. They just run around. Obviously it's not the ones that could kill you, the lions and tigers etc were in the more pen type side of the zoo, but all the emus, ostriches, donkeys, goats, ducks, birds, deer, limas, some monkeys etc were just running around.

There's loads of talks on the animals with the different feeders and you can get the chance to feed some of them. I missed the chance to feed the penguins which I'd have loved but the kids who did get to do it looked really pleased to have the penguins waddle around so close to them!

We also got to see how like us the monkeys are when one of them managed to steal a shoe that had dropped off the foot from a little girl in her push chair and ran off deep into it's enclosure with it. They were like children playing with a new toy, throwing it around, chasing after it and trying to eat it. I wouldn't have been impressed if it was my shoe but it was amusing to watch. They're very clever creatures.

It's not very big but they have plans to expand and I'll definitely be returning when they do. I'd recommend if you go to take a picnic as the food was alright but not wonderful. Just make sure you eat it before you go into the run free side of the park as you can't take food in there.

We went on a school day so the safari park was fairly quiet, I could imagine this being a nightmare place to get parked and around if it was busy. But I definitely think it's worth a visit whether you have kids or not. Here's just a few pictures of the animals we saw:

Emu

Snuggling Lima's

Bird!

Turtle

Donkey and Goat (The Donkey took a liking to my Mum and tried to follow us)

Lima!

Kangaroo

Prairie Dog 

Tiger

Penguin (These are so cute)

Rhino

Monkey waiting for Banana from it's feeder

I did have lots of other days out but the safari park is something I thought I should share with everyone. It is definitely a place to go if you're in the area, it's such a nice experience and seeing animals walking free is so nice.

Sorry for the long rambling post, but here's just a recap of the last two weeks of my life. I'm really disappointed to be back home as I enjoyed the holiday so much but I can't wait to see all my friends and Omar again.

Sarah x

Book Review - The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Warning: Make sure you have tissues when you read this. There's only ever one book in my life that has made me cry (On the Edge, by Richard Hammond if you're wondering), this doubled my list to two.

I don't know why I even chose to read this, it's not a book I'd normally opt for. I much prefer fantasy books with magic and worlds far away from ours, but this one caught my attention and I'm glad it did. 

The story is focused on Hazel, a teenage girl diagnosed with a terminal illness hoping experimental drugs will lengthen the time she has left. Terrified of the thought of being a Grenade to her family and her friends, she is such an inspiration remaining strong throughout everything and putting the feelings and future of others before her own. She shows that to fight through difficult times, you need a positive attitude.

After meeting Gus at a support group she didn't want to go to, her life takes a surprising turn and she falls in love the way you fall asleep; slowly then all at once. At first I wasn't sure I liked Gus but I, like Hazel, very quickly fell in love. 

This book is so well written you can't help but connect with the characters and want them to enjoy their lives the way they should be able to. Although I kind of predicted the storyline in some aspects, the story still put me through an emotional roller coaster. Raising questions about the impact I'm making on this world, who will remember me once I've gone and how I'll be remembered. It definitely makes you think twice about everything. 

Cancer is something we can't get away from, and you're very lucky if you don't know someone who hasn't been affected by the illness. What the book addresses though is how people react to those unfortunate to be suffering from the disease, and what it is actually like for the families who are left behind. That's something you probably can't understand unless you've been in that position yourself, but this book gives a really good insight.

This book is a great summer read, I'd recommended to anyone who likes a story you can connect with. And if you don't like reading, then the film is out on the 19th June so you can still experience the story.

Book Review 1 - The Night Circus

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is a 2011 book written by Erin Morgenstern, and tells the story of two young magicians forced into a competition by their mentors to settle a long outstanding disagreement. The playing board for the challenge is the Le Cirque des Rêves and it's black-and white striped canvas tents, filled with unique and amazing experiences. But as the two magicians fall in love, there are tragic consequences and an ending neither mentor would have wished for.

I'd heard a lot of good reviews about this book before I bought it, and I was told in good faith by my best friend that I would fall in love with it. When I first started reading, I didn't believe him. The book was very slow to start and I couldn't quite figure out how everything fit together. There's a lot of jumping around to different times and different people's view points which took some getting used to, but when the challenge finally got going, it didn't disappoint.

I loved the feeling of being transported to this completely different world of the circus, where every time you visited something different happened. The idea that a place so magical could exist in such a normal world was incredible and had me hooked. The description of some of the tents really made it feel like you were experiencing the circus first hand.

The range of different personalities and relationships between the characters in the books, made the experience ever so more realistic. You felt very involved in everything that was going on, felt the pain, the love and the laughter when each of the characters did. There's a wide range of people to connect to, and a group called the Rêveurs which every lover of this book would class themselves as part of.

In my opinion, the book ended with the best ending it could. I don't want to spoil it, but if the ending had been different I'm not sure I'd be as in love with the book as I am.

After a quick google, I've read that the rights to the film have been bought and the script being written. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the magic will be kept throughout the film, as it's a great book that I don't want to get ruined.

If you like magic, and fantasy this book shouldn't disappoint. It does completely transport you somewhere else, just give it time to get to the good bit.

Rating: 9/10. Slow to start but had me falling in love with it towards the end.