Fangirl Since 1988

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black & Illustrated by Rovina Cai – Review

Synopsis from Waterstones Brimming with Black’s customary faerie magic, this atmospheric prequel to the events of The Folk of the Air trilogy digs deep into Cardan’s past to unearth some incredible revelations. Exclusive edition – includes a black cover and sixteen extra pages of Rovina Cai’s art, from original sketches through the draft stages to final artwork that isn’t in the book, with…

Blog Tour: The Family by Louise Jensen

Blog Tour: The Day We Meet Again by Miranda Dickinson

Synopsis from Goodreads

‘We’ll meet again at St Pancras station, a year from today. If we’re meant to be together, we’ll both be there. If we’re not, it was never meant to be . . .’

Phoebe and Sam meet by chance at St Pancras station. Heading in opposite directions, both seeking their own adventures, meeting the love of their lives wasn’t part of the plan. So they make a promise: to meet again…

Blog Tour: We Are Not Okay by Natália Gomes

Synopsis from Goodreads

A powerful novel about what happens when girls are silenced.

If only they could have spoken out. Lucy thinks she’s better than the other girls. Maybe if she’s pointing fingers at everyone else, no one will see the secret she’s hiding.

Ulana comes from a conservative Muslim family where reputation is everything. One rumour – true or false – can destroy futures.

Trina likes…

January and February Wrap-Up

Since I got a full time job 4 months ago, blogging has taken a bit of a backstage position in my life. It isn’t only due to getting the job, but also because at the same time that I started my job I also started on a medical trial.

This hasn’t stop me from reading, on the contrary, but I did neglect my blog for bit and i’m going to be honest here…I miss it!

So I though to start with a 2 month…

Skate Kitchen – Film Review

Picture provided by Premier R – Language, drug and sexual content, some nudity, all involving teens

Introverted 18-year-old skateboarder Camille lives on Long Island with her mother. Though, to her mother’s relief, Camille promises to hang up her board following an injury, the pull to skate proves too strong. She discovers an all-girl subculture of skaters called The Skate Kitchen on Instagram,…

Emma Nash is back….and determined to work out the world of friendships and relationships once and for all (…ish).

Now she’s in the sixth form, Emma’s expecting life to be a breeze but when her best friend Steph suddenly has a boyfriend who she’s spending more time with Emma’s not sure what to do with herself.

So Emma’s got a mission in mind: making new friends. Signing up for the school fashion show seems like the perfect opportunity. Although soon, through a series of mishaps that are absolutely not Emma’s fault (well, sort of), her world is teetering on the edge of disaster again.

Would going back to creating a life for herself online reaaaaaallllyyy be so bad?

Review

If you know me at all, you know how much I loved Editing Emma by Chloe Seager. It was one of my favourite reads of 2017, and now with its sequel Friendship Fails of Emma Nash, Chloe did it again.

This was the only book that I had on pre-order this year. So when I was told that I was going to be part of the blog tour I literally squealed of excitement. Not even joking, you can ask my boyfriend, he thought I had won the lottery for a second. Which would have been pretty epic too.

So as you can probably guess, I literally devoured this book when it arrived. I laughed so much that I had tears in my eyes.

In Friendship Fails of Emma Nash, the ever so funny Emma leaves her dating disasters behind her and dwells on making new friendships. We all have that moment in our lives when our friends start dating and you stuck between being a third wheel or leave them be to enjoy themselves and their new bae.

What Emma is about to discover is that friendships are just a hard to maintain as any romantic relationship. Chloe’s writing is not only hilarious but also finds a subtle fun way to deal with a lot of important issues. Issues that a lot of teenage girls should see more in YA books.

One of the things I mentioned when I reviewed Editing Emma is how this was a book I hoped I had when I was a teenager. Friendship Fails by Emma Nash is an amazing follow up to that. Once again, dealing on a deeper level with masturbation (not only female this time) and periods, but also dealing with orgasms or lack of thereof, female friendship, jealousy and how female/male relationships are real and not a myth.

Growing up, sometimes is hard to see what we have right in front of us. You can focus on something else so much and for so long, that you don’t realise what is happening around you. This is one of the lessons I take from this book, don’t force your friendships and open your eyes to the ones that are happening naturally. Also never stop making the effort for those friendships that matter!

Be weird! Be yourself! As you will always find a Steph that would love you no matter what. I’m very lucky that I have found my own Steph, as just like Emma I’m the weirdest gal you can meet. When you do, make sure you don’t let go!

If you are a fan of laughing until your belly hurts make sure to pick up a copy of Friendship Fails of Emma Nash by Chloe Seager. While there also pick up Editing Emma too, as is a great introduction to the ever weird, ever funny Emma Nash.

Rating: ★★★★★

Friendship Fails by Emma Nash by Chloe Seager is available as a paperback and you can get it now on Amazon (affiliated link).

Thanks HQ and Nina Douglas for sending me an paperback copy of Friendship Fails of Emma Nash in exchange for my honest review.

*FangirlSince1988 xxx

P.s.: Once again I met the ever so lovely Chloe Seager at YALC for my birthday. I think we starting a little tradition. Bonus photo: My favourite photo with Chloe from the CHCCYAFest. AHAH

30 Get to know me questions

In a week, I’m going to be reaching the big 30! *hyperventilates*

Gosh, I’m getting old, ain’t I?

For the whole of this week leading up to my birthday, I’m going to be posting a post a day relating to my birthday, myself and 30!

Today, I’m starting it off with a Get To Know Me post and of course it will be 30 questions. I will try and keep it short and sweet.

1 – What is your full name?

Ana…

Love, Simon – Film Review

Blog Tour: The Dark Divide by D.K. Stone – Mini Review

WARNING: CONTAINS SOME MILD GRAPHIC ACCOUNTS OF MURDER. Synopsis by Goodreads Waterton is a town with dark secrets, and after a summer of murder and mayhem, American ex-pat, Rich Evans, knows exactly how far people will go to hide them. Jobless after the fiery destruction of the hotel he once managed, Rich is charged with arson. Only one person, local mechanic Louise “Lou” Newman, believes in his…

February was a hard month for me. A lot of stuff happened with family and with my personal life, and with that my mental health plumbed into a new low. I found it hard to get myself out of it. I struggled with getting motivated and to do the things I loved. I felt a bit like a zombie. Eat. Cry. Sleep. Repeat.

The anxiety was taking over me. I had a few panic attacks at home, which hasn’t happened for over 10 years. When I’m like this the first thing to go is my will to read. The only thing I can do, is to watch TV or Netflix. I think some time ago, I swapped my binge eating as a coping mechanism with binge watching TV. Binging on things isn’t the way to go, but I’m glad that I’m not eating my feelings away anymore. Instead, I use what I watch to get all my emotions out. I’m an emotional whore, so most of the time I just cry show after show, and I get so tired out that eventually I feel a weight of my shoulders. It works for me I guess.

I’m still not 100%, but at least I feel a bit more like myself again.

This has also made me realise that I wanted my blog to branch out into other areas. I was feeling quite restricted in what to write, which is never nice. With that I have revamped my blog header and social media accounts, adding Lifestyle and Travel into the mix of things. Hence, why I’m feeling more open to talk about how my mental health was a bit of a pain in the bum this month.

Anyway, let’s move on to what I still manage to do this month despite feeling like sh*t.

Read

Trafficked Girl by Zoe Patterson (Paperback)

Edge of Wild by D.K. Stone (Paperback)

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman (Paperback)

The Rising Storm by Ceri A. Lowe (E-Book)

If last month my reading wasn’t perfect, this month was even worse. However, I still managed to be on track with my Goodreads Challenge. Once again, I haven’t manage to read any Beat The Backlist books. I do feel that I’m disapointing my fellow Book Bards here. However, I have promised myself that if I manage to finish my March TBR with time to spare I will be picking up a Backlist book first.

I haven’t wrote a review yet for The Cruel Prince but will have the review up this month. To Kill a Kingdom was published yesterday and it’s amazing so go get it!

Goodreads Challenge: 12/52

Beat the Backlist Challenge: 0/20

Watched

Finding Your Feet (Cinema)

Ghost Stories (Preview Cinema)

Tomb Raider (Cinema)

A Wrinkle in Time (Premiere)

I was very lucky to go to two Preview screenings this month. First, for Love, Simon which it was absolutely gorgeous. Secondly, for Red Sparrow, which was very different from what I was expecting but still very much enjoyable.

My absolutely favourite film this month was Black Panther. It totally exceeded expectations and it was freaking amazing. I’m planning on going to watch it again this month. #WakandaForever

Winchester wasn’t actually as bad as I expected. Or maybe it’s because I went with my two best friends. My Andreia is literally the worst at getting scared. 12 years of friendship and watching horror films with her is still one of my favourite things to do. She loves them films but she jumps and screams at everything. It’s hilarious! So basically I spent most of the film crying of laughter because of her.

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Second Chance Sex Offenders (BBC iPlayer)

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Russia’s War on Women (BBC iPlayer)

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Gypsy Kids Taken From Home (BBC iPlayer)

Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with Isis (BBC iPlayer)

Islam, Women and Me (BBC iPlayer)

Crossing Birmingham’s Invisible Boarders (BBC iPlayer)

Altered Carbon (Netflix) – All of Season 1

Queer Eye (Netflix) – All of Season 1

Living Differently (BBC iPlayer) – All of Series 3

Everything Sucks (Netflix) – All of Season 1

Inside No. 9 (BBC) – All of Season 2, 3 and 4

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – Season 14 – Episodes 11 and 12

iZombie (The CW) – Season 4 – Episode 1

Scandal (ABC) – Season 7 – Episodes 10 and 11

Lucifer (FOX) – Season 3 – Episodes 14 and 15

Riverdale (The CW) – Season 2 – Episode 13

The Fosters (Freeform) – Season 5 – Episodes 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16

Chicago Fire (NBC) – Season 6 – Episode 11

Chicago PD (NBC) – Season 5 – Episode 14

Chicago Med (NBC) – Season 3 – Episodes 09 and 10

Blindspot (NBC) – Season 3 – Episode 12

Slasher (Netflix) – All of Season 2

Total Bellas (WWE Network) – All of Season 1

Seven Seconds (Netflix) – All of Season 1

Britannia (SKY Atlantic) – Season 1 – Episodes 04, 05 and 06

The Good Place (NBC) – Season 02 – Episodes 12 and 13

I’m happy that I’m finally all caught up with The Fosters, still can’t believe that this show is gonna end soon. It deals with so many real problems, it’s such a shame.

I have finished Inside No. 9. I really enjoyed some episodes more than others but overall is a good series. I still don’t know what to think of Britannia. I don’t think I like it but for some reason I want to keep watching it. Probably, will finish this first season and then if the second is a go I will think about it.

Have started to watch Total Bellas with the boyfriend, and I really like it. The Bellas are the best and my heart ached for Bryan and all he had to go through. We will definitely watch the second series.

Also watched Seven Seconds on Netflix, I thought it was quite good and deals with a lot of current issues. A great show for the fans of The Killing.

OMG! Queer Eye was absolutely amazing and got me in tears every single episode! What an amazing reboot! YAAAAS QUEEEN!

As you can see I watch a lot of Documentaries, that’s because most of the time I can watch it while doing housework or cooking, like a radio show. You can’t really do it with TV shows as you need to pay more attention.

Adventures

Cirque Berserk (Peacock Theatre) –  For our seven year anniversary, me and the boyfriend decided last minute to get tickets for Cirque Berserk. It was absolutely fantastic and we had an amazing evening. Definitely something we will get tickets for again if their come back to London.

    Hot Chocolate Tour – On my last wrap up post I told you that my friend Savan is a Content Creator. This month he wanted to do a Hot Chocolate Tour video for his YouTube Channel, and who better than me to help him out? I absolutely love Hot Chocolate! You can check the video now on his YouTube here (Make sure to subscribe too).

In the end, I still had an okay month. The highlight was definitely all the amazing books that publishers sent to me. I felt that I had a bit of joy arriving ever so often through the post.

Let’s hope in March things get better. I know I have some exciting things coming up and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Ah! Don’t forget to check out my Instagram over March, as I’m taking part of Harriet’s #ReadWomenMarch challenge.

Happy Readings!

*FangirlSince1988 xxx

Blind Date With A Book: Bookish Charity Event at BFI IMAX

I’m so excited to share this Charity Event details with you. So my friend Leona is a supervisor at BFI IMAX and she had the brilliant idea to organise a Blind Date With a Book Charity Event to raise funds for the Costa Foundation. Lately, has been a lot of films coming out that are based on books. A Wrinkle in Time, Everyday, Red Sparrow, Love, Simon, and Ready Player One. These types of films…

Top 5 Wednesday – Hidden Gems in Your Favourite Genre

Once again apologies for not posting this on a Wednesday. Has been really hard to catch up on my blog posts with no laptop. This week’s topic is about Hidden Gems in your favourite Genre. However, I don’t really have a favourite genre. Its YA considered a genre? Because those are my favourite types of books. So I guess I’m gonna let you know about my Top 5 YA hidden gems. Unwind Series by Neal…

You know when you love something so much that you are lost for words? That’s how I feel about this amazing book box. Two months in and I’m so happy that I have subscribed.

On my last post, about the December box, I’ve explained a bit how I came to subscribe to this brilliant book box (and how much I loved it!).

Well, this time I spare you all the details but you can always check my previous post here.

The theme for January box was Into the Jungle and I was able to guess pretty early on what the book was, as there wasn’t many dinosaur books coming out. Which is a shame!

But as you know this box not only comes with a recent YA box but also with a bookish bath/body product and tea.

The Into The Jungle Box included:

The Extinction Trials by SM Wilson

Signed bookplate and Letter from the author

A Tea-Rex room spray by Geeky Clean

Dino DNA – Toffer Apple Tea by Rosie Lea Tea

Two chocolate coins

A discount code for Taken Moons candles shop

  The Extinction Trials by SM Wilson was definitely a book I was going to purchase myself, as I freaking love dinosaurs! I think anyone that grew up in the 90s just has that dinosaur gene built in them. #LifeFindsAWay

I recently tried the tea and is really good. It’s quite strong, even with just a teaspoon so I think I can put less in the infuser, which means will last longer. Also the packaging for the Dino DNA tea is just amazing!

Now the Tea-Rex room spray is brilliant! It smells so good and really helps the bed and the room smell fresh. Also is such a big bottle!

The box also comes with a sticky book plate signed by the author which then I put it on the inside of the book. So now is a signed copy. Also the letter from the author is such a nice little touch.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, we then get some chocolate coins and a discount code for Taken Moons candles! If you haven’t checked this new candle business you should. Even though I haven’t smelled any, I know they’re good! Can’t wait to use my discount code to get one when the shop opens later on today.

Overall, I’m supper happy with Wildest Dreams Book Box once again. Also my February box gonna be extra special as my boyfriend is paying for it as an anniversary present.

If you haven’t subscribed already there is still some very limited boxes available so go get one now.

Life finds a way,

*FangirlSince1988 xxx

My Week’s Work Experience with Transworld Publicity

What tips would you give to others trying  to break into the publishing industry? How did you get the work experience opportunity? What did you do while your were there? What was your avourite part of the work experience? Has it made you wnat to wokr in publishing more? Would you be able to go back and do more work experience with them? Do you have any tips on how to get work experience in…

Last year at YALC, I was lucky to get a proof of The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven. A few weeks later I was flying for some work in Marbella and decided to take this little book proof with me to keep me company. The company didn’t last long, because as I soon as I started reading it I couldn’t put it down (Which apparently made my heat stroke worse). Well it was all worth it, as this is…