To All the Boys I've Loved Before review.

Lara Jean writes love letters but doesn't send them. She writes until she no longer loves the boy she's writing to, then she puts the letter away in the hatbox her late mother gave her, and she moves on. No one knows about her letters, not even her sisters. Until one of the boys asks Lara Jean about his letter and she discovers that they've all been sent out, including the one letter that didn't work, for the one boy she still loves.

I loved this book. I would write a love letter to this book and I wouldn't even hide it in a hatbox. I would post it straight away. This is exactly the kind of fun, sweet, fluffy YA romance I love best. I loved Lara Jean and her sisters and their dad and Peter (I wasn't overly keen on Josh, I'll be honest), but most of all I loved the food. There is so much food in this book! It all sounds so delicious that as soon as I finished the book I made a huge cake because I needed something good to eat.

The Cake

When Lara Jean's letters get sent out and her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh, discovers that Lara Jean has feelings for him, her solution is to pretend that one of the other boys who got a letter is her boyfriend. It's a weird solution but it kind of works, especially since Peter also wants to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. So it's win-win, right? Except we all know where these storylines usually go and obviously it isn't as simple as all that.

I know everyone's a little love triangle fatigued but honestly, I don't mind it, and it didn't bother me at all in To All the Boys I've Loved Before. However I do wish we'd seen a little more of Josh. Maybe his absence is why the love triangle doesn't feel so triangle-y but he was very present at the start and once Lara Jean and Peter hatched their fake-relationship plan he seemed to take a bit of a backseat, which I think was kind of a shame. I loved all the fake dating stuff though. Boy, did I love it. Even though I knew where it was obviously going the whole time, I still enjoyed every minute. I'm such a sucker and I don't even care.

What makes this novel really great though is Lara Jean's relationship with her sisters, Kitty and Margot. Their mother passed away when Kitty was very young so Margot, being the oldest, became a kind of surrogate mother, and Lara Jean and Margot are both very aware of their responsibilities to Kitty. When Margot leaves for college at the start of the book, Lara Jean feels that it's her job now to take care of Kitty and their dad, while also missing her sister like crazy, and trying to keep up with her fake boyfriend plan without lying to everyone too much. It's a lot to deal with.

Lara Jean is absolutely adorable and more capable than she realises and Peter is the snarkiest lovable jerk I've ever read and, although I found the ending a little bit rushed, I ordered the sequel P.S. I Still Love You the second I finished To All The Boys I've Loved Before and I can't wait to read it and find out what happens next! So I guess the ending worked. Plus, Jenny Han announced a third book in the series a few weeks ago, so my timing is excellent because now I'm finally getting into the series just in time to have to wait until next spring for the third book. Hmm...

★★★★☆

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Read Women Month 2016 TBR.

Read Women Month 2016 starts today! Are you as excited as I am? Probably not. But I hope you're at least a little excited! 

I've only chosen three books for my Read Women Month TBR this year because for some reason I've actually been reading pretty slowly recently so I don't really anticipate being able to read more than three books this month. But these are all authors who are completely new to me and whose books I've heard amazing things about, and I'm really looking forward to getting into these stories!

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. One for every boy she's ever loved. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control...

To All the Boys I've Loved Before sounds like exactly my kind of thing. There is nothing I love better than a sweet YA contemporary read and this premise sounds really interesting. I've heard mixed things about this book online but I've been wanting to read it and decide what I think for myself for a while now so this is probably the book I'm most excited about on this list and probably the one I'll be reading first. Plus, it's got a very high rating on goodreads, so it must be good, right?

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Fifteen-year-old Kambili’s world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home. 

When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili’s father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunt, a University professor, whose house is noisy and full of laughter. There, Kambili and her brother discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father’s authority. The visit will lift the silence from their world and, in time, give rise to devotion and defiance that reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways. This is a book about the promise of freedom; about the blurred lines between childhood and adulthood; between love and hatred, between the old gods and the new.

I've heard so many amazing things about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's writing and I don't know why it's taken me so long to pick up one of her books. Purple Hibiscus was recommended to me by a friend and I'm hoping that as this was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel it will be a good one to start with. Again, it has excellent reviews on goodreads, and the story sounds interesting, although in a very different way to To All the Boys I've Loved Before! This sounds like it will be quite different to the sorts of books I normally read and I'm really looking forward to that.

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik

"Brilliant idea! Excellent! Muslim dating? Well, I had no idea you were allowed to date.' Then he leaned towards me and looked at me sympathetically. 'Are your parents quite disappointed?' 

Unlucky in love once again after her possible-marriage-partner-to-be proves a little too close to his parents, Sofia Khan is ready to renounce men for good. Or at least she was, until her boss persuades her to write a tell-all expose about the Muslim dating scene. 

As her woes become her work, Sofia must lean on the support of her brilliant friends, baffled colleagues and baffling parents as she goes in search of stories for her book. In amongst the marriage-crazy relatives, racist tube passengers and decidedly odd online daters, could there be a a lingering possibility that she might just be falling in love . . . ?

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged is the newest release on this list but I've already heard so many good things about it. I've heard it compared a lot to Bridget Jones's Diary, which actually worries me a little because, although I love the Bridget Jones films, I wasn't really a fan of the first two books when I read them, so I'm definitely hoping that those comparisons lean more towards the films than the books. Outrageous, I know. Either way I do love a romance book every once in a while and I'm hopeful that this one will be as funny as everyone says it is!

So that's my TBR for Read Women Month 2016! If by some miracle I manage to finish all three of these before the end of the month then I might squeeze one or two short somethings in too but honestly I'll just be happy if I manage these three before July.

What's on your lists for Read Women Month? I'd love to see your TBRs! Don't forget to use the hashtag #ReadWomenMonth on Twitter and Instagram, (I most certainly will be) and happy Read Women Month!

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Read Women Month 2016!

That's right, it's that time of year again! For those of you who don't know, Read Women Month is something I've done in June for the past two years here on this blog of mine. The idea is simply to read exclusively books written by women during the month of June. It's that simple and that wonderful. There are many male authors whom I love but I, much like many others, feel that female writers often don't get taken as seriously as male authors. So Read Women Month is a chance to spend an entire month celebrating female authors! You can find posts from the last two years of Read Women Month here if you so wish.

For my TBR this year (post coming soon!) I'm going with something a little different. The truth is, I read a lot of female authors all through the year, but most of the authors I read, female or otherwise, are white. This, of course, is not on purpose, but then I hope that most people do not read mostly male authors on purpose either. So this year I have decided to dedicate my Read Women Month to books written by female authors of colour and I encourage you to do the same!

You don't have to, of course. The great thing about Read Women Month is that the only rule is to read books by women. But if you, like me, can look back at your recently read books and see a very large percentage of white writers, then this is as good a time as any to redress that imbalance, right?

So, whatever you choose to read, I hope you'll think about joining me for Read Women Month this year. Share this post, make and share your own posts, use the banner if you want, definitely use the hashtag, and let's spend the whole of next month celebrating women writers!

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Eurovision faves 2016.

That's right, gang. It's that time of year again! Time for me to share my favourite acts who will be competing at tomorrow's Eurovision grand final! I've been dutifully watching the two semi-finals (which you'll probably be more than aware of if you're following me on Twitter) and, of course, the six acts who will automatically make it through to tomorrow's show, to bring you my top picks.

There are actually quite a few acts I enjoyed this year who haven't made it to the list (such as Sweden and France and, yes, even the UK) but without further ado, here are my top five faves for this year's competition!

Alter Ego - Minus One for Cyprus

I am a big fan of countries sending rock bands to Eurovision now. Definitely the Lordi effect. I love the howling, I love the main singer's little cardigan thing, I love that that one guy just has a blue beard. Look, the most important question for any Eurovision song should always be: 'why not?' and they are embodying that.

Loin D'ici - ZOË for Austria

She's just so cute. I can't handle it. That's basically it to be honest. This whole thing is so adorable and I am a sucker for it.

Made of Stars - Hovi Star for Israel

As a general rule I am 100% against ballads at Eurovision. But there's always an exception to the rule, isn't there? And I kind of just love the random circus act going on in the background. It doesn't get more Eurovision than a random circus act going on in the background. (It's not a patch on last year's entry from Israel though lbr.)

Midnight Gold - Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz for Georgia

I would just like to know if these guys are aware that they are performing at Eurovision? Don't get me wrong, this is some excellent indie rock and I think it's really great. I'm just not entirely convinced that these guys didn't somehow accidentally end up representing Georgia this year?

What's the Pressure - Laura Tesoro for Belgium

And back to classic Eurovision at its absolute finest. We've definitely all heard that bass line before but hey, there's nothing wrong with that! This has a real Michael Jackson vibe about it, which is definitely why I like it so much. Honestly, I think this one might be my number one favourite.

And just for good measure I thought I'd throw in my favourite act that unfortunately did not make it through to tomorrow night's final:

Help You Fly - IVAN for Belarus

What were the people of Europe thinking not voting this through to the final??? Honestly, I feel like people are taking this thing a little too seriously this year and if we can't have a naked guy caressing a wolf in the Eurovision grand final then what exactly is the point of this competition anyway?

If you are at all interested in Eurovision then I absolutely suggest following me on Twitter because I will likely have some Opinions tomorrow evening. And if you are not even slightly interested in Eurovision then I will ask you: 'what do you do without all this glitter in your life?'

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Light leak.

I've started shooting with film again. Well, I shot one roll of film. Twice. It's a long story. 

This is my first ever light leak! I'm oddly proud of it but it doesn't go with the rest of the photos from this roll at all. So it can have its own little post for both of those reasons.

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Perranporth.

Hello! It feels like it's been ages since I last posted. How are you all? Good? Good. Now, back to me. I've been a busy bee, entering a few writing competitions and helping friends with editing their writing. It's been a big old writing and editing love fest up in here and honestly, it's been great. What that does mean though is that I have a lot of unedited photographs backed up for blog posts! So you can expect a few more photo posts in the next few weeks. Assuming I get to editing the rest of the pictures any time soon...

I don't know who this dog is but he's very photogenic, don't you think?

A couple of weeks ago my parents and I went out to Perranporth for a little wander along the beach. As you can see it wasn't exactly the sunniest of spring days but I did get to dip my toes in the ocean for the first time this year, which was nice if also very, very cold. And I think these photos turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

My next post will either be another Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton or a few pictures from my first roll of film for about six years, but I'm actually still working on a few writing projects so I have no idea which one it will be or when it will be up. We'll just have to wait and find out together!

Until next time, pals!

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Baking chocolate chip cookies.

This is going to be an extremely short post today because really I just want you to watch that video up there! My friend Jess and I filmed this footage of me baking my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe last September and I finally got around to editing it. I know, I know, but it's here now and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do!

And make sure you stick around until the very end. I do love a post-credits scene...

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