The Dartmoor Bookworm

I was actually away on holiday last week when my happy post arrived. It's always a nice feeling when you see it on your doormat but even nicer when you know it's at home waiting for you. We arrived home early on Monday morning and no I didn't open it straight away. Later onMonday afternoon i got to sit down and open it on my own. This months theme is Spring Clean, very apt for my house at the moment. We have been having lots of work done over the past seven weeks which includes a new kitchen which arrives this Monday! I'm a little excited about that! So in amongst all the chaos of my house - I get this, and as always its perfect. Inside wrapped in tissue paper as always, is a journal, a Paperchase pen, three organisation sheets to help you organise your life, a decluttering one, a cleaning one and one for things you like doing. There is also an art card with the quote, "This could be the beginning of anything you want." That's going i...

I was sent a pre publication copy of this book in return for an honest review by Netgalley. The first thing I will say about this book is that it is the third in a series - I haven’t read the other two and you don’t need to. From what I understand a few of the characters and settings are the same but this book is fine to read on its own without the prior knowledge of storylines or characters. The book is set in a small Cornish village and the main character is Pippa Parkin, a teaching assistant, full of life, bubbly and who brings a smile to the room whenever she enters but who’s love life is not so flamboyant! Her mother is desperately trying to get her together with childhood and family friend James, who is polite and courteous when he needs to be but Pippa sees straight through him and decides he’s not the man for her! When her class teacher leaves on maternity at Easter, her temporary cover teacher, Kam, (male, good looking- we know where this is going) joins th...

I couldn’t resist. Having started reading this in school with a year 9 child I was too impatient to wait to read it together.  I held out for quite some time, but on realising that we wouldn’t finish reading it before half term I pressed ahead. This book is aimed at young adults/ pre teens/ key stage two children and is suitable for all of them. (And adults too!).  The story as I’m sure you are aware is about August Pullman, a ten year old boy, who was born with a facial deformity. He had up until then been home schooled by his mother but she felt that he was ready for proper school at the start of fifth grade. The story follows August’s first year at school, the friendships he creates and the bullies that torment him. It also follows and dips into the views and perspectives of other close to him, his sister Via, his new best friend Jack, Via’s friend Miranda and Via’s boyfriend Justin, as well as Summer another friend he has made at school. I like the fact the the ...

I said I’d show you what’s inside the stationery box this month and here it is. The first item is this cute little tin, complete with a stationery addict sticker. Inside the tin are a selection of little bullet journal stickers, two tiny weeny stencils and a pom pom paperclip. Next is the journal papers, pictures on one side, writing space on the other and another paperclip, which holds on the next item. These are super cute. Bookmarks and page markers. How adorable are they? Next we have a fine line pen, love these! And a gorgeous pale pink highlighter. We then have a bag tag and some washi tape, great for decorating journals, letters, scrap books! Then we have an amazing selection of stickers, all bullet journalling themed. I love the designs that Claire creates and the fact that each box is different and based on a different theme. I'm not much of a bullet journal diva but I try and these will definitely help.

Today my stationery subscription box from Sherbet Lane arrived. I love these little boxes of stationery goodness. It’s always nice to come home from work to and today I’m home alone for an hour so I get to sit down with a cuppa and open it in peace and quiet.  I love the little 'Happy Post' sticker - it really is - every month! Claire always tells us the theme before the boxes are sent out, so we have some sort of idea on what might be in there. This months theme was "Planner Queen".  I'm not great at planner using, I have a Filofax (old school) for work and I try and keep a bullet journal but never get very far with them, I'm not that creative, and just don't have the time to spend making it all look pretty. I'm sure at some point in the future I'll come up with something that works for me. This is how Claire wraps them every month. Claire always provides a little bit of confetti and its always in tissue paper, it looks so nice that so...

So I have seen this book many times whilst out shopping but have never bought it. On Thursday I went shopping and picked it up, read the blurb and put it back on the shelf.  When I got home I downloaded it onto my kindle ready for a weekend at the beach house. Unfortunately I was still reading The Winter Secret and with a poorly child I didn't get that finished until yesterday. With the 10 year old flaked out on the sofa all day, I decided to start reading it. I knew the reviews were good, but quickly realised how good this book is.  It is based on a true story, one that Heather Morris has researched and written with the help of Lale (the main character) and his son. It is a beautiful moving love story surrounded by the horrific day to day happenings of Auschwitz.  Morris brings very clear and vivid imagery to her writing, and part of me, even though I know what happened in concentration camps, when it's written from the mouth of one survivor, it still left me num...

This is the first book by Lulu Taylor that I have read. It took me a few chapters to fully get into it but I then found it really hard to put down. The story centres on Buttercup Redmain as the main character, who lives in her husband’s large country house with him and his staff. His ex wifeand the ex owner of the big house live in what I assumed to be smaller gate houses near to the main entrance.  The story follows Buttercup and her day to day goings on, where everything is done for her by her husbands grand team of staff. She quickly realised that the team are watching her every move and starts to delve into her husbands former relationship with his ex. The story also follows Xenia, the previous owner and goes back through her life of living in Charcombe, with her father and film star mother, how she comes to live in one of the gate houses.  I really got into the story and wanted to know what happened in the end. The ending was a real twist and not what I was ex...