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OLD ENGLISH COMPANY | LOCAL BUSINESS REVIEW SERIES


For a while now I have been apart of a website that helps bloggers like myself promote businesses either in return for money or free trial gifts. However over the last few months I've thought more and more about the smaller local firms that don't get as much exposure and have been wondering if there was something I could do to rectify it, maybe inline with what I do with said website or completely on my own. Until an opportunity recently arose and I tied the two together to get the ball rolling, everyone let me introduce you to the lovely people at the Old English Company. This will be my first Local Business Support Advertisement and I hope I do them proud! 

You may have noticed if your an avid reader of First For Everything that a new page has been added, titled Advertisers. Here you will be able to find all of the local companies I have worked with and any offers they may have going along with a brief about what you can purchase from each one. Shortly, Old English Company will be added to start the page going!

So anyway! Back to them! 

The Old English Company are a brand who specialise in Stationary and Homeware using the art of quirky calligraphy quotes and there own humorous style. Based in Stamford all of their products are made here in England and are all within anyones price range. Local firms sometimes have to compromise there prices due to the costs involved in making there products, however the Old English Company have kept all their items within anyones grasp even a bargain hunter like me! I already want to own half the website.

On there you can find all manor of items including coasters, mugs, calendars, cards and prints. But for all of you reading this that know me, you know my heart will lie with the Stationary page. However much I adore the key-rings and Enamel Pins with there funny slogans, its the Planner page that draws me in. 


You see I have this desire to organise my life, I think I could hold a diary for every single detail of my life from daily habits, expenses to calendar scheduling and reminders. I couldn't possibly keep it all in one because wheres the fun in that! My dad always jokes saying "Kylie does love a list" because I make them for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. I have so many bits of paper I worry about losing one! But these beauts are A5 sized making them even more perfect and compact and each page contains a daily checklist and room for notes. The only difficulty I'm going to have is picking which colour I prefer! 





Currently they are holding a competition to win a set of planners and you betcha ive already entered! 
Go on and enter yourselves its not like you've got anything to lose! 


Over the next few weeks of April I'm sure you will see more of the Old English Companies products popping up on my social media and here on the blog. Go and give them a visit, I highly doubt you'll manage to leave the site without buying something, personally I haven't managed it yet! 


*This post is sponsored by Old English Company and I have collaborated with them on this post, however all views and opinions remain my own and I bloody love the products! I would personally not endorse something I didn't truly love myself.

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CARAVAL BY STEPHANIE GARBER | BOOK REVIEW


Yes Yes I'm late to the party! Almost sounds like a line from this book that does! 

On Saturday I went to London for the day with my parents and my niece, whilst they totted off to watch Wicked (Ive seen it before, AMAZING incase you wanted to know) I headed off to Waterstones biggest store in Europe near Piccadilly! Even though walking through the door I wasn't hit by the amazement of a 5 storey book shop.. I knew it was still going to be like heaven. 


It is a HUGE store, with over 8 miles of bookshelves, its easy to get lost and probably spend a fortune. Luckily I had time on my side and spent ages perusing the aisles, always drawn to the fantasy and young adult section. Ive been meaning to pick up Caraval for what seems like forever since I saw its cover doing the rounds on Instagram. It seemed like everyone was reading it and I wanted to know what the draw was. So I scanned the Fantasy aisles in Waterstones and soon found what I was looking for, at £7.99 I couldn't grumble and headed off to the nearest Caffe Nero to delve in. 

That was Saturday, today is Monday. And I'm finished.

If that doesn't tell you how hard the book is to put down I don't know what would, its a brilliant piece of writing. Garber really hits all the high notes for letting you lose your imagination in a world where no one can trust what they see. 

'Remember its all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you. But don't let any of it trick you' is the line from the blurb on the back. I had no idea before reading it what Caraval was even about all I knew was that everyone seemed to be reading it. 

Its a fast paced book with lots of twists and turns, when I was reading, it was almost like I could imagine myself there playing the game. Or maybe I just wanted to be. Its brilliantly written and keeps you hanging on for the next chapter. I couldn't put it down, I sat for an hour and a half reading, then had to start again on the train home and then again today just because I wanted to finish it and know how it ended. Its interesting too, because unlike other books your piecing together the clues yourself but until each part is revealed you don't actually notice the game unfolding. The characters are easy to imagine and I like that about books, everyone pictures someone slightly different which allows a different story to each individual unlike a film where everyone is seeing the same person. Both Scarlett and Tella remind me of how me and my own sister are which makes the book more relatable.

'At midnight on the first day, the show begins and the visitors become players. Each of them is vying for the coveted prize: a single wish.' I always find it slightly odd when a prize is something we don't take seriously in real life, but truth be told if someone said you had to compete in a game to get a single wish of your choice, would you play? 

What have you all been reading lately? Let me know in the comments. Ive got loads more books to crack on with throughout 2018. I started Sarah Millican's - How to be Champion at the Spa on Friday and can now revert back to that. Its been hilarious so far and I've nodded and agreed to so much of it already! 

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TALON BY JULIA KAGAWA | BOOK REVIEW


One of my goals for 2018 was to get my head into more books, so I started a reading challenge on the 01st January to read at LEAST 12 books through out the year. Whilst January was a god awful month to what seems like pretty much all of us, it also gave me the time to get started on the challenge.

My book of choice for January was Julie Kagawa's Talon, part of a 5 book series surrounding dragons and dragon hunters (whats not to like, I was sold already). I have read other books by the same author including The Iron Fey series, which is also a must read in my opinion, so I had high hopes for this.

Outline:
Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

 Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

 I keep referring to this book inline with the Eragon series, but really its not. Yes it has dragons and yes it has people who don't like dragons but its not that kind of plot. Kagawa's story telling of Talon goes beyond that of a hatched dragon egg, she has enabled the reader to use there imagination of how a dragon can become a human. 

 The book tells the story of Ember and her twin brother Dante, two dragons born into Talon, basically, a group full of dragons training to take over the humans. They place sleepers in plain sight to infiltrate the human race and hope they don't get caught by the Order of St George. But whilst Ember is placed during the summer and struggles with her training and how to fit in she meets Garrett. Little do either of them know, they are actually sworn enemies. 

 The story follows with the two getting to know each other and Ember learning that there is more to Talon than she's being lead to believe. I was left rooting for the two of them to be together, its one of those where you know its not possible though because of who they are.

There are a few twists as other characters come into the story and by the end of the book I was already ordering the second in the series just to see what happens next!

If your a person who loves using your imagination whilst reading, and being taken somewhere in a way that only books can do, then this ones for you. I loved reading Talon and didn't want to put it down, the story and the way its written are both perfectly done.

Congratulations to Kagawa on another great series!

You can purchase a copy of Talon HERE on Amazon.





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8 BOOKS FOR 2018 - NO SPOILERS HERE


Welcome back folks! 

 Wasn't that a short ass break! Here we are back in January and all the doom and gloom that it seems to bring, after such a colourful festive period! Well I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and your ready for another year to begin, because if not, well you dont really get a choice in it do you!

 Starting the year on a resolution seems like the most positive to thing to do, so here I am listing out the new books I have decided to take out of my TBR pile for the start of 2018. 

 I already had several of these books before recieving some of them as Christmas presents, clearly people dont want me spending time with them anymore LOL! I love reading, and the main reason is because it allows me to enter a world and build it with my own imagination based solely on what is written. And also because no one can tell me that my way is wrong either, we all interpret things differently and I think reading is a big outlet for that. 

Talon
First up, I have already started Talon, im a HUGE lover of all things dragons and since the Eragon series I've been dying for something to match it, although truthfully thats going to be hard work for any author. Talon is written by author, Julie Kagawa and is part of a 5 book series also including Rogue, Soldier, Legion and Inferno. I actually got this one as a Christmas so if it lives up to its reviews, I'll be found purchasing the others shortly after!

Viral
Viral is written by Helen Fitzgerald and if im honest the blurb for this book had me wanting to read the entire thing the moment I laid my little hands on it! Ill share it with you and see what you think: 


So far, twenty-three thousand and ninety six people have seen me online. They include my mother, my father, my little sister, my grandmother, my other grandmother, my grandfather, my boss, my sixth year Biology teacher and my boyfriend James.


When Leah Oliphant-Brotheridge and her adopted sister Su go on holiday together to Magaluf to celebrate their A-levels, only Leah returns home. Her successful, swotty sister remains abroad, humiliated and afraid: there is an online video of her, drunkenly performing a sex act in a nightclub. And everyone has seen it.


Ruth Oliphant-Brotheridge, mother of the girls, successful court judge, is furious. How could this have happened? How can she bring justice to these men who took advantage of her dutiful, virginal daughter? What role has Leah played in all this? And can Ruth find Su and bring her back home when Su doesn't want to be found?

 Tell me it doesn't sound like the sort of thing you hear in the news this year, so reading it seems like a must! I think this will be book number 2 for 2018!

Children of Eden & Elites of Eden

This might be cheating but these two books do follow each other and I got them both for Christmas so they need to be read, am I right? By author Joey Graceffa, Children of Eden is the first book in the two part series and seemed a little like the rules from recent TV programme Terra Nova, where the worlds people are only allowed one child. Ill only share a snippet from the first book so as not ruin the second for me or anyone else!

As an illegal second child, Rowan has been hidden away in her family’s compound for sixteen years. Now, restless and desperate to see the world, she recklessly escapes for what she swears will be only one night of adventure. Though she finds an exotic world, and even a friend, the night leads to tragedy. Soon Rowan becomes a renegade on the run

The Break and The Mystery of Mercy Close

To be honest I think Marian Keyes could write a book about apples and I would still love it. Shes one of my favourite authors and I find her stories so easy to escape into that I find it difficult to let go. The break was my first choice for books to read in 2018 and revolves around a husband who decides hes taking a "break" from their life and leaving to the other side of the world for six months. The reviews have been good so far and without doubt im going to love it like all of Marian's other books. The Mystery of Mercy Close was a charity shop buy as it was in immaculate condition, no bent pages, no broken spine (everyone has rules about book conditions right?) and I added it to the list due to my love for Marian Keyes escapology effect. 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Another Christmas present, greatly received was this book by Gail Honeyman. I've seen a lot of good reviews for this book and I haven't previously read anything else by Honeyman so fingers crossed this one lives up to the reviews and I can add a few more of her works to my Wish List. The books centers a on a girl who thinks her life is as fine as its ever going to be with Vodka and Frozen Pizzas. Then she meets someone (obviously) who makes her realise otherwise and see life from a different perspective, a little like I perhaps need in my own life as im sure many of us do. 

Beautiful Broken Things

Im all for a good friendship themed book, having a truly amazing best friend myself. I think we all sometimes need reminding of why there here and what an amazing job they do for us. This book centers on two girls who have been friends forever until someone else turns up in the picture and puts doubts to there friendships future. But at the end of the day, if they are there for us through anything, they should be with us in everything.

Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realises, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own

Withering Tights & Bella's Christmas Bake Off

These two books are simply an addition to this list because they have spent so long in the TBR pile that I felt a little sorry for there existence! Something better looking has always come along and ive read that first, repeat about 100 times and here we are. So they will be read this year! At some point.

If you have read any of these books or any other really good ones recently feel free to share them in the comments box below.. Perhaps not to many though, otherwise poor Withering Tights might get sidelined AGAIN!









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Autumn Reading List


Its safe to say I am a massive reading fan, I can get into pretty much anything, but have a particular love for YA. I am one of those original book nerds though, Kindles or E readers just dont seem right. I understand the ease of use when travelling and storage but they just dont give the same feel as actually holding a book and smelling (yes I did say smelling, yano you all do it too) the new pages. I freak out if someone bends my books back to far, you better believe there is an etiquette to book handling! That being said I thought I would share with you my current To Be Read list. The pile keeps growing as I seem to have less and less time to actually read but more and more time to buy books.

#1 - So first up I decided to start reading this on Sunday night and could NOT put it down! I am already over half way through and glad that it gripped me back into reading again. Author M J Arlidge has brought together several books in the Helen Grace series and I actually have to admit that book 7 - Love Me Not is the only one I have seen. I have however already started looking into getting the others because of how hooked I am by this one. 


Love Me Not

A woman's body lies in the road. At first it looks like a tragic accident. But when Helen Grace arrives on the scene it's clear she's looking at a coldblooded killing. But why would anyone target a much-loved wife and mother?

She Loves Me Not

Across town, a shopkeeper is killed while his customers are left unharmed. But what lies behind the killer's choices?

She Loves Me

Who lives? Who dies? Who's next? The clock is ticking.

She Loves Me Not

If Helen can't solve this deadly puzzle then more blood will be shed. But any mistake and it might be her own ...


Helen Grace, now back at Southampton Central following her release from prison, is first on the scene.

#2 - Next on my TBR list is going to be The Break by Marian Keyes, I already own several books by this author and have favourited most of her work. Her style of writing and audience engagement is excellent and the books always have a story that touches the heart in one way or another.


The Break
Amy's husband Hugh has run away to 'find himself'. But will he ever come back?
'Myself and Hugh . . . We're taking a break.'
'A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?'
If only.
Amy's husband Hugh says he isn't leaving her.  He still loves her, he's just taking a break - from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. Six months to lose himself in South East Asia. And there is nothing Amy can say or do about it.
Yes, it's a mid-life crisis, but let's be clear: a break isn't a break up – yet…
However, for Amy it's enough to send her - along with her extended family of gossips, misfits and troublemakers - teetering over the edge. For a lot can happen in six-months. When Hugh returns, if he returns, will he be the same man she married? Will Amy be the same woman? Because if Hugh is on a break from their marriage, then so is she…
#3 - Another book I have purchased recently is also by Marian Keyes - The Mystery of Mercy Close. I am a stickler for Marian as I said before but reading the blurb (as you have to) really got me wanting this one.


The Mystery of Mercy Close
Helen Walsh doesn't believe in fear - it's just a thing invented by men to get all the money and good jobs - and yet she's sinking. Her work as a Private Investigator has dried up, her flat has been repossessed and now some old demons have resurfaced.
Not least in the form of her charming but dodgy ex-boyfriend Jay Parker, who shows up with a missing persons case. Money is tight and Jay is awash with cash, so Helen is forced to take on the task of finding Wayne Diffney, the 'Wacky One' from boyband Laddz.
Things ended messily with Jay. And she's never going back there. Besides she has a new boyfriend now, the very sexy detective Artie Devlin and it's all going well. But the reappearance of Jay is stirring up all kinds of stuff she thought she'd left behind.
Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly the only person she feels connected to is Wayne, a man she's never even met.
#4 - I saw this book on a lot of other blogs so thought I would give it a try, it has some really good reviews and after all thats why we write about them, to tell you guys if its worth a read. I haven't read anything by author Sara Barnard before so shes going to be a completely new writer for me, but I like mixing it up. This book was also selected for Zoella's Book Club.



Beautiful Broken Things

 Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie - confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne's past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realizes, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own.
#5 - Finally for my autumn reads is another new author to me, Helen Fitzgerald. I literally picked this up because of the words on the front cover. I was intrigued, after all in this day and age everything you do ends up somewhere on social media and the entire world knows about it, Good or Bad.



Viral
So far, twenty-three thousand and ninety-six people have seen me online.
Su has always been the successful sister. It's Leah who is wild and often angry. But when they go to Magaluf to celebrate their exam results, Su disappears.
Su is on the run, humiliated and afraid. There's an online video of her performing multiple sex acts in a nightclub. And everyone has seen it.
Their mother Ruth, a prominent court judge, is furious. Can she bring justice to the men who took advantage of her daughter, and what will it take to bring Su home?

Thats my Autumn reading list complete, I will be sure to review each one when I finally get round to finishing them. Feel free to share your autumn book reads in the comments below, im always up for trying something new by recommendation! 


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Review - Perfect | Cecelia Ahern


Perfect - Cecelia Ahern
Series - Follow on from Flawed
Publisher - Harper Collins
Pages - 428
Available to buy - http://po.st/perfecthbauk
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