Tag: featured

A book Review – The Mother of All Christmases by Milly Johnson

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

I finished this book around the Christmas break but only just got around to writing a review.

This story is lovely but the narrative is a little confusing. It’s set after ‘A Winter Flame’ and all the main characters are there but they are just not the same. Eve is now pregnant and this features heavily in this story but the title suggests that it’s a Christmas story when in fact most of this book is set in summer.

Again the Daily Trumpet posts are ever so funny and probably the best part of these stories with the funny mistakes bordering of hilarious most of the time. It wasn’t really the cosy Christmas story I was hoping for but with the presence of the Winter World theme park throughout I suppose it’s Christmas adjacent.

I wouldn’t rave about this book but I still rate it a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Review – A Winter Flame by Milly Johnson

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

I love that in the beginning Eve is a sceptic who due to previous heartache and loss detests Christmas but as the story progresses she starts to warm to the season.

She is left a theme park which is under construction on the orders of her late aunt. This is something which when she is first told believes to be a joke. She then finds out that the park is not her alone. She has been left this to share with a stranger whom she has never met. Her aunt was very fugal in life so when she find out that her out in motion the construction of a very lucrative business venture she is in awe. She has every intention to mussel out the partner she is landed with and run this place on her own.

Convinced that Mr Jaq Glass, but business partner, is a con man she makes it her mission to find out all she can about him. She discovers that he is an ex service man and that makes her blood boil given that her diseased fiancé wall killed in action.

She believes he is a fraud and to say that she detests him is an understatement.

Little does she know but he was chosen to reawaken her love for Christmas and encourage her to live again.

His arrogance and self assurance just makes her hate him that little but more than she already does.

As time goes on he manages thaw her frozen heart and help her to move on. Just when she thinks that she has lost him for good he comes back and she realises that he is what she has needed all along.

Safe to say that with all good Christmas stories they love happily ever after.

As a side note, the random articles that are dotted throughout this book from the local paper, The Daily Trumpet, are an absolute diamond and hilarious in their own right.

I rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Review – My One Month Marriage by Shari Low

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

At first this book fried my head. It’s starts by listing everyone who is in the story and how they are related. My first thought was ‘oh Christ I’m never going to remember this so I hope they circle back around to it’! Safe to say they did thank god.

The story focuses on the lives of 4 sisters. Each very different in their own way. We have one workaholic party animal, one who works as a nurse but her caring side continues much further than the hospital, one who absolutely has to control everything down to a millisecond and the 4th sister is practically a stranger in her own family. She doesn’t share anything about her life and is so shut off that she doesn’t realise how much that has affected her life.

This story seems that one man can affect this family so much when he gets involved with one of the sisters and whilst this is true the revelation is that all of their behavioural habits stem back to another man in their lives than none of them dare mention.

Once one man is ejected from their lives and they acknowledge the effect that the departure of the other has had on them that they actually start heal, reconcile and realise what each of them has needed all along.

I rate this story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’ve read this book, I would love to hear your opinions.

Book Review – An Autumn Crush by Millie Johnson

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

I love listening to stories that reflect the time of year we are currently in. This is the third one from this author I have listened to now. It was a nice heartwarming story about new love, old and new friendships and the funny way that life has of surprising us when we least expect it. This story touches on the topic of online dating and now uncertainty this can bring.

The great thing about this book is that there are little autumn quotes between the chapters and I do love a good quote! 🥰

Although I loved this book, I feel that it ended a little too abruptly for my liking but it was still a great story.

I rate this story 4 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy autumn everyone 🍂

Book Review – The Plus One Pact by Portia Mackintosh

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

I absolutely loved this book. It’s funny, relatable and feel good.

I love the character of Cara, nerdy but cool and very single. She has tried the whole dating app thing which has produced a number of undesirable characters. Then just as she is about to give up she meets Millsy in a bar. From here, her whole life changes. Millsy picks her up out of her mundane life and shows her all the things she could be doing. Essentially they become each others plus one to all up and coming events over the summer.

After Clara having a makeover (courtesy of Millsy’s connections) she feels like a whole new woman. More confident, outgoing and daring.

It’s a very will they won’t they situation as Clara clears fancies the pants off Millsy but also doesn’t know if it’s reciprocated and is petrified of ruining their friendship.

Without spoiling the ending I will leave it at all’s well that ends well.

This is probably the best story I have ready in a while. Literally made me laugh out loud at times.

I rate this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Review – The Secret to Happiness by Jessica Redland

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

I liked this story especially the friendship element of it and they way that all three women have their own stuff going on and despite the fact that their friendship is very new they make time for each other. I must say that this is a bit of a man bashing story. Whilst I know there are men out there who don’t know how to treat a woman if it kills them this really does shine a magnifying glass up to this. I spend most of this book raging at the mens actions and decisions.

It’s lovely that all 3 women have found someone better suited to them by the end and despite the distance between them they all remain good friends.

I would rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Have you read this book? If so I would love your thoughts on it.

🍁 Hello Autumn 🍂

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It’s that time of year again where we bid a reluctant farewell to summer and welcome the warm cosy embrace of autumn. Last night we had thunder storms which meant it got dark real early. I’m not normally a fan of the long nights but I’ve changed the batteries in my candles and string lights. I lit every candle in the house and actually found time to sit and chill on the sofa with Sienna for an hour or so before bed. I must say after weeks on end of sitting in the garden all night it was really nice. I really was in my happy place.

Hallway sign updated – Autumn Vibes

Autumn to me is staying in, lighting candles, watching a series on Netflix and enjoying some family time!

Every year autumn is fast becoming by favourite season. I love the opportunity it brings to bust out your cost sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves.

The shops are full of Halloween deco’s already and I think we will be adding some new stuff to the decorations we already have. I hope to get some bits before the end of this month so that we can decorate from the beginning of October.

I will keep you posted on our shopping extravaganza once we have been.

Hope you are all staying safe. Here’s to enjoying some quality family time and cosy nights!

P.s. I also updated my chalk board sign and just want to add it to this post.

Hello Pumpkin 🎃

Book Review – The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

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www.audible.co.uk/pd

I loved this story. High flying lawyer turned housekeeper, Samantha is absolutely useless at the everyday tasks. It makes you wonder if there are people in this world who really are that useless!

She turns it around and learns the skills needed to pull off her bluff all whilst finding love. This book is really heartwarming in the sense that thinking that she had lost everything showed her what she had really been missing all along. I am a big fan of the slower pace of life so this book was like an idilic little day dream!

I rate this book 5 stars!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy reading everyone!

Book Review – The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

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Book Review – The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

A lovely story with a heartwarming theme. Very family orientated. It teaches you that things are not always what they seem. Once you’ve flown the proverbial nest you can’t assume that what you see on the surface of your family’s ways and actions are always true.

I loved Effie and the way she had developed throughout the story. She has learned some truths about herself whilst being in hidden attendance to the party which I feel helps her to develop as a person.

Moral of the story. There is always more going on under the surface than meets the eye.

Happy reading everyone!

Kitchen Update – Cabinet Painting

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So we’ve been at it again! This time the kitchen was in the firing line! Those dated wooden cabinets just had to go! They were bringing the whole room down! Since we moved in back in 2016 we have slowly added our own touch to every room and this was one of the only ones we still weren’t happy with!

Eventually I want an extension which will house a new kitchen and I would rather save the new kitchen feeling and the money for when that happens so for the time being we decided to refresh what we had with some cabinet paint.

Here’s how the kitchen used to look.

We had already done a fair bit in here at this point like painting the ceiling which was the same colour as the cabinets and we also painted the tiles which had a speckled brown finish with ducks on them. Nothing seemed to look right together when it was like this.

After a full day of prep work which solely consisted of sanding off the sheen and years of general kitchen grime off the cupboards and then we began painting. Dan has had his air line and compressor set up in the garage for years and only this year started using it so everything was sprayed to get a more even finish. Because it was sprayed we managed to keep the grain effect which I love!

I had some real trouble trying to decide on new handles for the doors and drawers. I didn’t want anything too fancy looking we were were going for a minimalist look. They had to be silver to match all the other kitchen accessories and I also didn’t want to pay the earth for them as the idea of this was to refresh the kitchen on a budget! Eventually I found the ideal ones on Amazon. They were £10 a pack so I ordered two packs of the shot ones and one pack of the long ones and have a load left over as spares.

Long handles for the drawers & Short handles for the cupboards.
Before and After
Here’s the finished product once the walls and ceiling had fresh coat of paint.

I am so happy with how this little diy project turned out. There are a couple little things we still need to sort but they are quite hard wearing as out dog has a lovely habit of stretching against the cupboard doors and none of them have scratched so that’s great.

If any of you are thinking about painting your kitchen but worried about the durability of this I would say as long as you make sure you lacquer them once painted you should be ok.

I would love to hear about your experiences of painting furniture and anything you would do differently next time.

Have a great day everyone!

All my love, Mel xo