Review: When We Collided

When We Collided - Emery Lord

When We Collided is one of those everywhere books, you know, in that, it’s been all over bookstagram (which makes sense because holy pretty cover, Batman) and all over Twitter and mostly it gets All The Glowing Reviews and I was super excited to read it. & if you’ve been sneaking into my house and studying my bookcase – which is a completely weird thought and one that may give me nightmares because I am nothing if not a sensitive soul – then you might be thinking ‘huh, she can’t have been that excited; she’s had that damn book for ages.’

You would be both right and wrong.

Review: The Trouble With Goats and Sheep

The Trouble With Goats and Sheep

Ah, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep. Question: have you ever wanted to hug a book? Like, to wrap it up in your arms and just squeeze it, in the way those slightly over zealous relatives would hug you when you were a child, so that you screwed up your face and were sure you’d cracked a rib or three? I want to hug this book. I want to hug it, and then like Cyrus Rose in Gossip Girl I want to say ‘not enough, not enough’ and hug it some more. I loved it.

It’s set in the great English heatwave of 1976, which, well it actually for reals was hot that summer, just ask any English person who was around then. Not me. I wasn’t born but that summer was hot enough that I’ve heard about it. We’ve not had a summer like that since. So I’m told. Anyhow, it’s set that summer when Grace (aged 10) and her pal Tilly decide to search the avenue for Mrs Creasy who has gone missing, and also for God. I love that, there’s something just so endearingly innocent about it you know, about these two children who think they can just Solve All The Mysteries. They’re so serious about it, this isn’t just a game to them, this is not a way to pass the time or Keep Out of Trouble. They actually believe 100% that both God and Missing Mrs Creasy are can be found and they’re the ones who can do it and it made me miss being 10 and the summer holidays and those endless days stretching out in front of you and how actually grown up you actually thought you were even though actually you obviously totally weren’t at all.

Let's Talk Ratings

I’m always kind of curious about ratings and how people rate the books they’ve read, and how they might interpret the ratings system and how it all works and what it all means. 

& sometimes because of this I feel bad because – for example - I think 3 stars is good, but what if other people think 3 stars is only okay, what if they think I liked a book less than I did because I’ve ‘only’ given it 3 stars and why do I care so much. 

Also, 5 stars.

I see so many 5 star reviews and that’s amazing, naturally, because who doesn’t want to read all the 5 star books, but I dunno, I kind of save my 5 stars, I only give them to books that blow me away and when I see people giving 5 stars to everything, it makes me wonder if they see 5 stars as something different to me and if they give 5 stars to everything then what do they have left when that book comes along? (How many times did I say 5 stars in that paragraph good gracious.)

And so, because I keep thinking about this, I figured if for no other reason than to shut myself up, today I shall talk about how I rate my reviews– broken down into the star rating and how I interpret it, with a little Blaine Anderson gif for illustrative purposes because I love both Glee and Blaine Anderson completely unironically (but that’s another story for another day.) Basically, I just want Darren Criss’s face on my blog. 

So. HERE WE GO.

 If I give a book 5 of the stars it’s because I’m saying to you that THIS BOOK IS SO AMAZING I HAVE LOST THE ABILITY TO EVEN. This is booklove like no other guys, this is me, drowning in feels and unable to do anything other than flail around in a mess of fangirl. It’s reserved for the best of the best.

4 stars means this book is an excellent book. This is a book that made me happy, maybe even left me with a book hangover. A book that whilst may be not quite head over heels in love with, I could certainly see myself fall for. It’s a book that’s different, and well written, that grabbed me and didn’t let go and left me feeling like it’s better than most other books. 

3 stars: This book is a good book. I liked it. This is always the iffy one for me, because I think 3 stars is a pretty darn good rating but I feel like other people might feel like it’s only ‘okay.’ & that makes me wary. Sometimes I feel like I need to justify a three star rating. Here’s the thing: if I give a book 3 stars then it’s because it’s A Good Book. Do I enjoy my 3 star books?

2 stars: I am indifferent towards this book. It was okay. I didn’t like it, particularly, but I didn’t really dislike it either. These books probably leave me feeling a bit ‘meh,’ a bit 'what did I just read?' These are the books that I've finished but I won't re-read and won't recommend and certainly won't be gushing over. The books that make me feel a bit '....what?'

 1 star: Do not like. Nope. In fact, we could even go so far as to say I actively dislike the 1 star books. I don’t rock out the 1 star very often, which pleases me. 

And that is that. So tell me: do you rate in the same way I rate, and if you don’t then what do you do differently? And is Blaine Anderson not the most adorable Blaine to ever Blaine?

How to be a fangirl, aged 28

This is the story of how I proved I still have fangirlish tendencies.

That should serve as a warning for what is to come in this blog post and I make no apologies.

If you know me, or if you read this blog on a regular basis, then you will be aware of my love for Glee. It's my current tv obsession, which makes me sound like a screaming teenage fangirl, which I kind of am - except I'm almost 30.

It's a weekly fixture in our house, Glee. Ian rolls his eyes but he watches every episode with me and has a crush on Rachel Berry and says I remind him of Sugar Motta. And me? I love Kurt. & Blaine.  Oh, especially Blaine.

Spoilers. Spoilersspoilers. Feel free to read no further....

In last week's episode, aptly titled 'Big Brother' we met Blaine's older brother.

Cooper.

Let me tell you something: the Anderson family look like they walked right off an Abercrombie billboard. I'm not even kidding. These are two men very fortunate in face - I'm talking Fiennes brothers levels of hot.
And very fortunate in voice.
And together enough to leave me flailing around and eternally grateful for Sky+ - I got my money's worth out of the rewind/replay function when I watched the episode, that's for sure.
Why?
Because Blainers and his dreamboat brother [and yes, I did just use the term dreamboat in actual real life, watch the episode, you'll understand] sang my current favourite song: Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know. I love that song. I downloaded it from ITunes after the first time I heard it, have listened to it pretty much constantly since then and told Ian WEEKS ago how well I thought it would suit Darren Criss's voice and that I thought they should do it on Glee and lo and behold they did. And it was amazing.

The whole episode was really really good actually and it reminded me a little of old Glee in that it broke my heart a little and it made me laugh so hard [which after the week I've had is quite the achievement!]

We had beautiful Blainers and his hot brother and the DuranDuran mash-up and Kurt [generally, as a person, always Kurt] with his crush on his boyfriend's brother:

'Blaine, your brother is the most good looking man in North America.' 

'Oh no, Blaine, you have to, you're both so handsome and good.'  

Chris Colfer should win awards for his facial expressions, he is such a scene stealer.

We had Fighter and Blaine's naked back [cue audible intake of breath followed by 'oh dear that's my boyfriend sat right there.']
We had Cooper's 'lesson' which was the funniest thing Glee has done in a while, I think, and some really touching scenes between other characters which were lovely but which I don't want to spoil.
All of it was Glee magic but the addition of STIUTK made it for me. I thought Cough Syrup from the week before was fabulous but wow, that song made me happyhappyhappy and I loved the character development we got for Blaine; I always love the more character focussed episodes of Glee, I loved this one more because it was Blaine-centric, I'll admit that, but the whole back story to his relationship with Cooper, the way it explained so much about things we've seen of Blaine in the past, the continuity [which isn't always Glee's strong point, let's be honest] all just worked really well and left me feeling rather pleased.

The bar has been set with this episode and they'll do well if they ever manage to beat it, especially since recent Glee has never quite matched up to the standards it set with its first season.

Anyway, yes. That was a nice time. In other news this week has been up and down. It was my Grandpa's funeral on Tuesday which was, well, sad. Really sad. I am not going to dwell on it though because I have spent far too much time in the past week and a half being sad and Grandpa wouldn't like it and oh my goodness nobody wants to read about it.

Let's focus on the ups.

We [we being me, Helen and our respective Mums] saw Phantom of the Opera last Saturday in Manchester which was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have ever seen on a stage. Seriously, wowzer. So so good.
The guy who took the part of the Phantom [John Owen-Jones if you wondered] was absolutely incredible. I actually didn't think it was possible to sound that good in real life. I had goosebumps. And I kept forgetting to breathe. I was just sat, jaw dropped, totally astounded. Helen was sat in front of me and she kept turning round to look at me with this massive smile on her face, she said at the end when I was just all wowwowwow, 'I just knew exactly what your face would be doing.' Ha. [That girl is so amazing. I would not have gotten through this last week, or in fact the last decade of my life, without her and her ability to make me smile even at the worst of times. I am lucky to have you, Helen.]
So, Phantom is my new favourite musical in all the world and I still can't get over how good it was. I would like to see it again please. We went for food afterwards and our Mums were suitably amusing, as ever and it was generally just a nice time.

Tomorrow is more MotherDaughterQT as we have tickets to go and see Strictly's Vincent & Flavia in Midnight Tango. Again, excited. There will be dancing and chatting and eating and coffee and shopping and probably more amusing Mum stories. I am looking forward to it.

I shall do a book post next week, I promise. This has not been a very bookish blog of late and I apologise for that.


And now if you excuse me I'm off to pencil in a time rewatch Glee again and to download the Glee version of STIUTK to my phone because I need it like I need air and to email Helen and ask her if she loves Blaine yet because seriously, that shower scene, and to continue to be a [very old] fangirl.


If you need me, I'll be somewhere watching this episode in HD. On a very. large. screen.

PS. I love this. Look at Cooper and Blaine being all hot. Look at Kurt in the background, stealing the scene. Ha. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

& it will look more like Christmas when I finish work and Ian and I go and purchase a tree!! That's the plan for this afternoon/evening: buy a tree, keep all fingers and toes crossed that the electrician doesn't needto demolish the kitchen, trim the tree, decorate the house, wrap lots of presents and drink Baileys (Ian) and Lemsip (me) whilst listening to Michael Buble.

Lovely.

I am feeling very fesitve today actually, despite my germs. It's a combination of knowing we're getting the tree today, the fact it's all pretty and snowy outdoors, The Yule Ball in GoF which I am reading about at the moment and the fabulous Glee Christmas Special last night. I want to talk about that so much and bombard you all with photos of Kurt and Blaine and RoryLeprechaun and Mercedes but some people *cough* Helen *cough* haven't seen it yet and I am trying to be spoiler free so I won't. I'll just say it was all kinds of fabulous, Darren Criss and Chris Colfer deserve to win all the awards ever in life because they were absolutely spot on and made me laugh my socks off and yes, Merry Christmas.

Have a Friday photo because these are wise words:

Those of you who have known me long enough may remember my crush on Ben Mills.

Ben Mills was an X-Factor contestant a few years ago. He was all long hair and rock ballads and totally my type; I loved him from his first audition. He was pretty enough to look at and his voice was just this gravelly kind of heaven. I swear, when that man sang I forgot how to breathe. It was ridiculous how much I loved him; how badly I wanted him to win the competition (he didn’t; he lost to Leona.) He did release an album though which I bought, and played and played and thought I could listen to his gravelly perfection forever. I wonder where that CD is…..?

Anyway, the point is I had it bad for this guy, for this guys voice but I got over it and (not including my Take That love because that’s like actual musical love that has lasted for over half of my life) I’ve not had a crush on anyone that much since because I grew up and I’m 28 and I have a boyfriend and a mortgage and 28 year old people with boyfriends and mortgages do not have crushes.

And herein lies my problem:

Darren Criss sings 'Misery' for Rolling Stone.

It's Friday and it's not unusual.

It's Friday and I am going on holiday. A mini-break. A girly mini-break with my BFF Helen and ourfriend Clare (although Clare is a teacher and so can only come for one night.) We're setting off on Saturday morning and coming back on Tuesday and I cannot wait. Helen's brother has a caravan in Abersoch. There will be walks on the beach and cider and lots of reading and giggles and gossip and yummy pub food and I think it will be just lovely. As long as the sun shines. In fact, you know what, even if there's some kind of monsoon it will be fabulous. It will be so so nice to spend some time, with Helen especially. Even though we're in touch most days I feel like I haven't seen her in ages.
We'll be taking our Kindles so it will be a paper free weekend I think, unless you count postcards. Some people might get postcards. & even though I love my Kindle bucket loads, I haven't gone that far over to the darkside; I promise you those postcards will be real, not some fake old e-cards!

I’m still reading the Woolf. This week has been all kinds of insane so I haven’t read more than 2% (I still get a kick out of the whole percentage thing. Hurrah for Kindle love) but that will be rectified this weekend and then next week when I get back I shall read Prisoner of Azkaban. I am excited about that.

Soon I shall finish work then I am off to visit my Grandparents and visit Kez and then take my beautiful God Daughter out for her birthday surprise – if somebody had taken me to see Avril Lavigne for my 13^th birthday I’d have been bowled over. Let us hope Beth is too – and then I am ON HOLIDAY.

Oh, I nearly forgot. Have a Friday photo.

I think I love Darren Criss. Like, actually. I can’t help myself. He’s so beautiful, and when he sings I come over all peculiar and then when he dances (which he does, a lot) my tummy does funny things and it’s a bit ridiculous. I have such a crush. Ha. I was a little crazy about him in the last season of Glee; the Warblers album is the most played on my iPad (This is not cool. I know. I don’t care.) & then he danced past me at the Potter party and then he told me I was tiny and I realised our outfits were co-ordinated and then he danced down the stairs and Ian just laughed at me because I was in an actual daze and then last night I watched the first episode of the new Glee and oh my days Jesus Christ on a bike. Gjgfhklgfjhklfngfxlg. Yum. Yum yum yum. So here. Happy Friday.

(Also how cute are Blaine and Kurt please. Helen, if you’re reading this, shush.)