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Friday 29 July 2016

Book Review: Red Lights, Black Hearts by Fabiola Francisco

Last Updated: 22 June 2021

Red Lights Black Hearts by Fabiola Francisco book cover

AD* | Darkness can be stained by light. Light can outshine the darkest of corners.

Behind a window in Amsterdam’s desired Red Light District, Samantha practises the art of seduction. Man after man, she controls them, seeking what they both want. But behind the façade of the glass, lies her truth waiting to be uncovered. An inner battle of light and dark takes place as Sam learns to release the past and truly live the beautiful tragedy that is life.

Red lights and black hearts collide in a tale of heart and soul.

Thursday 28 July 2016

Book Review: Valentina by S.E. Lynes

Last Updated: 22 June 2021

Valentina by S.E. Lynes book cover
AD* | When Glasgow journalist Shona McGilvery moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, they believe that all that lies ahead of them is happiness.

But with Mikey working offshore, the frightening isolation of the Aberdeenshire countryside begins to drive her insane...

That is until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina.

She has the perfect home, the perfect man, and a charismatic new best friend – or does she?

As her fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood becomes the least of her fears...

A hauntingly intelligent, addictive psychological thriller from debut author S. E. Lynes.

Thursday 14 July 2016

Book Review: Summer Days and Summer Nights

Last Updated: 21 June 2021

Summer Days and Summer Nights book cover

AD* | Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Featuring stories by Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina LaCour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, and Jennifer E. Smith.

Monday 11 July 2016

Book Review: The Silver Child by Nancy Norbeck

Last Updated: 21 June 2021

The Silver Child by Nancy Norbeck book cover

AD* | Maia Starfield is on the run, having successfully hidden her ability to create silver just by singing - until government thugs arrived to take her away. Her mother sent her out the door just in time, giving her only one piece of advice: Find Dr Martus.

Albert Martus has no idea why Maia was sent to find him - the doctor who delivered her 17 years ago. But from the moment she turns up, his story becomes intertwined with hers... as it has been since before she was born.

Follow this unlikely team as they discover the truth about the past and their present, the regime known as the Brotherhood, and the magical and ordinary power they each carry deep inside.

Friday 1 July 2016

20 People to Restore Your Faith in the UK

I'm not usually one to talk about politics, but it's not hard to see the poor state the country is in after the results of the EU referendum and the subsequent fallout from the Brexit vote. For everything else it has done, the referendum has pretty much split our country in two.

I'm sure you're all as sick of hearing about politics as I am at the moment, so I'm not going to go on and on about it. Instead, I'll just leave you with a few tweets I've come across that sum up my feelings about the whole thing very well.
Since the general mood in the UK is so low at the moment, with leave and remain voters constantly at each other's throats and the political parties in upheaval, what we need is something to restore our faith in our country.

I've had a think and put together a list of 20 people who will hopefully restore your faith in the UK and its citizens. And yes, they're all true stories and situations that I've personally encountered. Sometimes the smallest everyday acts of kindness and compassion are the ones that stick in your memory.

So, here's to...

  • The man in the pub at his wife's retirement party who bought a young couple drinks
  • The boy who came to the concert of an artist he didn't like just so a friend didn't have to go alone
  • All the people who helped a young woman who nearly fainted on an overcrowded train
  • The teenage boy in McDonald's at midnight who let a girl have the last strawberry milkshake even though he'd ordered one too
  • The group of girls who regularly take a disabled lady out for lunch
  • The woman on the train who cried when a girl offered to switch seats so she could sit with her husband
  • All the people who have helped carry pushchairs up and down stairs and on and off trains
  • The girl who spent all her pocket money on food for a stray cat she found
  • The young man on the tube who offered to give up his seat for an elderly lady
  • The tourist with the big suitcase who did the same
  • The elderly man on the tube who helped some tourists find the quickest way to St Paul's
  • The commuter who stood up to the drunken bully shouting racist abuse at an Asian lady on the tube
  • All the people who rushed to help two elderly ladies when they tripped on an escalator
  • The smoker who offered directions to a young couple lost in Camden
  • The mature student studying in Cornwall who chatted to an emotional teenage student the entire way into London
  • The couple in the arcades who gave the stuffed toy they won to a little kid who kept losing at the claw machines
  • The woman who wrote a eulogy for her little sister's funeral
  • The girl who spent hours on an amazing piece of artwork for her friend's birthday present 
  • The lecturer who helped a student at her lowest point
  • The teenage boy who had the courage to ask a girl for a dance

You are the reason I still have faith in the UK.

Have you encountered any random acts of kindness? Let me know in the comments below!