A Great Companion

So picture this, you’re in you’re twenties, travelling the world whilst teaching at an Argentinian Boy’s Boarding School and during your holiday you take a trip to Uruguay. Whilst there you have a great time and during your last walk along the beach you notice something strange, a massive oil slick washing up on the sand, along with a lot of penguins, which have unfortunately been killed by the poisonous oil.

In ‘The Penguin Lessons‘ by Tom Michell (a true story by the way), Tom stops and looks at these poor penguins, lying lifeless on the beach, when he notices one of them move. Thinking that he’s seeing things, he watches carefully and sees the same thing happen again so rushes down to the beach to see what he can do.

The next day after a huge struggle to wash off the sticky oil that this penguin was  completely covered in, Tom attempts to take him to the beach to let him swim off and carry on his life, however the penguin has other ideas and refuses to leave his side. The only option Tom can think of now is to take him back to school in Argentina with him and makes a plan to smuggle his new friend across the border.

This book is full of humour as well as sadness and a lot of heart felt moments as we see Tom and the penguin’s (who is eventually named Juan Salvador) relationship grow and the positive effect that Juan Salvador has on Tom’s life, as well as his students. The fact that we know that this is a true story, makes it so much more special and it is written beautifully to depict a true and humble story, which shows just how much love Tom had for Juan Salvador.

If you love penguins or just want something warm and thrilling to read, then pick up this book the next time you’re out book shopping, it’ll make you happy and sad and will make you feel good about the world.

 

Living the Dream?

Ever wanted to meet your favourite film star? Yes, I hear you loud and clear, it’s a question that has an obvious answer and that answer is of course YES!

So when a film crew arrives in your home town of to film a new version of one of your favourite books (Pride & Prejudice, in the case of our main character Sophie), you’d be overly excited right? Right, and Sophie definitely is!

Giovanna Fletcher’s ‘Billy & Me‘ follows the life of Sophie, brought up and still living in the tiny town of Rosefont Hill, having had a very innocent and easy going life, (well mostly anyway, there’s a secret you’ll find out about during your read). It’s during her daily duty of working in the local teashop with her good friend Molly where she meets the man of her dreams and her life takes a path that she never expected to take.

After meeting Billy and realising that he’s her real life Mr. Darcy, she joins him in his career as a rising star in the acting business. Being snapped by the paps and having invitations to swish parties is nothing like what Sophie has experienced before and we follow her through the stages of her relationship with Billy and see how she copes, some good some bad let’s just say!

This book is brilliantly written and if you’ve grown up in a small town or anywhere that’s very un-showbiz you’ll sympathise with Sophie and understand the troubles she goes through, even when at first she feels like she’s living the dream. I guess that author Giovanna Fletcher draws from personal experience slightly (being married to Tom Fletcher of McFly), and this helps to give an honest account of how it is to be suddenly thrust into the spotlight and all the issues that come with it. Sophie is a strong character, however even the strongest people can be shut down by the press and the paps, especially when like Sophie, you’ve got a huge secret that’s been kept hidden away for many years that you don’t want to reveal!

So if you fancy a read which will be hard to put down, some characters to fall in love with and something that will make you smile, then give this a read! This book may have come out in May 2013 and has taken me quite a while to pick it up and see what it was all about, however I reckon I would of loved it just as much if I had read on the day it came out!

The sequel to this book (Always with Love) is sitting in my pile of books to read, and I can’t wait to do so!

It’s Been Decided

After having a think or two I have decided that I’m going to make Tuesday ‘Book Review Day’! I’ve been reading a lot recently and thought well, why not share my joy for reading and my thoughts on my reads with you guys?! Seeing as I’ve got a few reviews logged up in my brain ready to be typed onto your screens I thought let’s make Tuesday ‘Book Review Day’!

My last book review A Fabulous Trio, Three Young Spinsters was published on a Tuesday and I thought why not carry that on?!

Apologies for not posting one last week (I’ve failed already!) but I was on holiday down in Bournemouth and on that very day I was sitting on Brownsea Island enjoying the views of the lighting bolts striking over Poole Harbour, yes not the best weather to visit an island yet thanks to the hospitality of Brownsea Island Castle, I was warm and snug watching the storm from a very comfy armchair. Here’s some pictures I took on my trip…..

 

And there we have it!

If you’re clever enough to notice that it is a Tuesday today and you’re wondering where today’s book review may be, hold on….it’s coming!

A Fabulous Trio, Three Young Spinsters.

If you ever wanted to be normal and have a ‘perfect’ life like everyone else, you are not alone.
If you ever felt alone and vulnerable or cut off from the world, you are not alone.
If you ever wanted to stand up for yourself and change the world, you are not alone.

The proof of this comes from the writings of Holly Bourne, author of 3 books about 3 amazing girls who all have these feelings (amongst others!)

The books are a trilogy of laughs and sadness, following the difficult decisions and emotions that we all had/have to deal with as teenagers, whether we’re willing to admit it or not.

The first of which starts with Evie in ‘Am I Normal Yet?‘, a girl who has had time away from the norm in order to deal with an illness. OCD has severely affected her life and throughout her story we see he struggling to get back to ‘normal’. All Evie wants, is to be known as herself, not ‘the girl who has OCD’, or ‘the girl who’s different’. However depressing and sad this story may sound, it’s not. There’s plenty of laughter along the way of Evie’s recovery (laughter is the best medicine of course!) and lots of moments that I’m sure you can relate to from your high school days, whether you’ve been there and got the t-shirt or are currently experiencing it day by day.

 

Second up is Amber in ‘How Hard Can Love Be?‘. Having suffered many years living with her Dad, step mum and her terrible step brother, she is finally making her escape to America to visit her Mum. The Mum who abandoned her years ago. Forgetting the bad times and the issues she has with her mum, Amber is looking forward to her trip, however when she lands on the other side things don’t turn out as she expected. The love and time spent with her Mum is minimal, almost non existent, not what she was expecting at all. Along with the disappointment of having to spend the summer there, her weeks light up when she meets Kyle, someone who she believes can never romance her but somehow they become inseparable.

Completing the trio is Lottie in ‘What’s a Girl Gotta Do?‘, who you will know from the previous two reads. A feminist in the making, waiting for the day when she can take control of the country and beat down all the men and anything else that makes life difficult for a woman. Lottie will definitely bring out the feminist in you, even if you’ve never taken a moment to think about how women are treated in society. With her noisy horn in hand she sets out on a project to alert everyone to even the smallest offence to women and indeed men, she keeps it fair of course. With objections from teachers, her parents and fellow students she thrives on knowing it’s all putting her future at risk. Again full of romance and humor it’s a great read and empowers you to stand up for what you believe in.

And that has been the feeling in all these books. Stand up for yourself, don’t be scared of what other people think of you, show yourself off to the world and if you don’t like something then change it.

The spinster club that  begins in ‘Am I normal yet?’ and grows into something beautiful throughout the next two reads, finishing off with a bang, is something we can all aspire to and shows that we can all stand up for ourselves and make a difference in this life.

If you want some inspiration or just a jolly good laugh then I completely recommend that you add these three books to your shelf and enjoy them as much as I did.
P.s. If you enjoy these books then watch out for the return of these three fabulous characters in ‘And a Happy New Year?‘ out November 1st, I can’t wait!

 

LHF is returning….

Hi there, apologies but I have had a break from the blogging world for quite a while (11 months in fact!).
No particular reason why, I guess life has just got in the way a bit and well I just needed some ideas in my head before I made my return.
So since I last posted I have been reading a lot, my book shelf is positively full up of great reads, of which I will tell you all about in the next few posts coming up. I’ve also had arty and photography ideas which well we’ll just see how they turn out, but yes I plan to write and create more and will try my very best not to abandon this blog again, as I have missed it.

I welcome you back to the world of LHF creations!