June Book Favourites!

Hello everyone as you may notice I have been working a little on my blogs appearance/ layout. If anything is hard to see/ read please let me know in the comments and I shall fix it.

Welcome to a new 'feature' for my blog, a post that will happen at the end of every month. As a self confessed book nerd I tend to read a lot so I thought I would let you know what books I have been loving throughout the month of June!

1. Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Wow. She's only gone and done it again! I am in love with Colleen Hoover, Slammed and Point of Retreat were my favourite books by this author but Hopeless? That just blew both of them out of the water for me. When I first started reading this I thought okay cool it's just another of your typical easy to read good girl meets bad boy high school romance books that you forget about only moments after you put it down. I was wrong, I was so wrong. It's a heart wrenching tale that I just did not see coming. This book has got to be one of the easiest 5 star ratings that I have ever given, it was truly breathtakingly beautiful. I really want to tell you what happens but I can't you'll have to read it for yourself, I mean you get suspicious pretty soon that something isn't quite right, but I didn't expect the twist to be so huge, when we find out what happened to Sky, I had tears in my eyes. I just didn't see it coming. So I can't say more than that if you choose to read any of the books I list in this post please read this one!
A word of advice if you're an emotional reader have a box of tissues handy.

2. Ten Tiny Breaths by K. A. Tucker

Okay I admit it I first read this book back in April, and I fell in love with it, the reason it's in my June favourites is because I wasn't sure if this book was actually as good as I first thought it was so I read it again, and I still loved it.

This is a story about love, loss, friendship, about losing everything and learning how to pick up the pieces again at the end of it all. Kacey Clearly (the main protagonist) lost her mother, father, best friend, and boyfriend all in one night in a car accident. For four years Kacey and her little sister Livie live with their Aunt and Uncle. That is until the Uncle attempts to attack Livie forcing Kacey to take her away from them to start a new life in Miami. She refers to herself as Kacey the imposter, the real Kacey died four years ago in the car accident. All that keeps her together when she feels the panic rising is ten tiny breaths.

Once in Miami we follow Kacey along her journey of healing, this entails 9 stages that Kacey must go through to make her life whole again.
Stage one - Comfortably Numb
Stage two - Denial
Stage three - Resistance
Stage four - Acceptance
Stage five - Dependence
Stage six - Withdrawal
Stage seven - Breakdown
Stage eight - Recovery
Stage nine - Forgiveness
Whilst in Miami she meets Trent a guy who lives in the same apartment block and whilst he makes her feel again he also harbours a secret that could destroy everything Kacey has worked so hard to put behind her. This book is one of those that you find yourself thinking how would I react if something like this had happened to me. It's thought provoking and it stays with you long after you turn the final page.

3. Entwined With You by Sylvia Day

The long awaited third book in Sylvia Days best selling Crossfire series, and oh boy was it worth the wait. Now if you are familiar with this series you will know that this was supposed to be the final book, however Ms Day has decided to continue the series with what I believe is at least two more books. Normally hearing news like this would have set me off in a blind rage, and it almost did. That is until I got my hands on book 3 devoured it in a matter of hours and realised that I was very happy with the way it ended, and whilst I'll probably remain curious as to what happens next for Gideon and Eva I don't feel I need to read the next two books to get the closure I wanted, that was delivered in spades by Entwined With You. Sorry I can't say more than that I don't want to spoil for anyone that hasn't read it yet, all you need to know is that I was extremely happy with the ending and that in itself is a huge spoiler if you've already read books 1 & 2.
The Crossfire series is of course recommended for fans of (don't hate me! please!) Fifty Shades of Grey, however (PLEASE hear me out!) as one of the reviews on the back of my copy of Bared to You says "A well written and sexually charged romance with characters who have real depth . . . I would highly recommend Bared To You because it's what Fifty Shades of Grey could have been" and I can honestly say I have never agreed with a review more. Also this book is a little bit more light hearted than my first two favourites.

That is all for my June Favourites I hope you enjoyed ready this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please checkout these books if you're even the slightest bit interested. Like I said if you  read only one of them it should be Hopeless, in fact I wrote these mini reviews in my order of preference. Also I have attached the Good Reads link for each book, all you have to do is click on the title of each book and it will take you to it's page so you can do a bit more research, if you'd like.

See you next time.

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The Hangover Part 3 - a Review!

Okay, first off I'm sorry I've not posted for two months, not that it's much of an excuse but I've been very busy with University work but I'm back now and I will be posting more often. Or at least I plan to, you know what don't hold me to that considering my track record it may not happen I'm going to try.

So first post back and we're doing a review for The Hangover part 3! First things first let's have a look at the trailer!

Having now seen the film it's safe to say that the trailer shows quite a lot of the story, which surprises me but then you could also ask does it show the best parts of the film in the trailer? Yes and no if you ask me, there still some good parts that don't go in the trailer.

As usual the wolf pack get up to some crazy shenanigans as they try to track down a missing member of the group, like the first film this member is Doug only rather than drunkenly leaving him on the roof of Caeser's Palace this time he has been kidnapped by a drug gang leader (who is fleetingly referred to in the first film) and will be killed if the Wolf-pack don't find Mr Chow.

The premise for the Hangover Part 3 is as follows courtesy of IMDB

When one of their own is kidnapped by an angry gangster, the Wolf Pack must track down Mr. Chow, who has escaped from prison and is on the lam.

This time around there is no wedding, in fact there isn't even a Hangover. Many reviewers have picked on the fact that it's less of a comedy than it's two predecessors and more of a dark angry action thriller, which I can attest to. It definitely isn't as funny as the first two films (though it does make a few funny references to them) however I still enjoyed this film. The critics slated it, I think it has been judged too harshly, it's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination but it certainly isn't a terrible one.

I actually liked that they moved away from the alcohol/drug induced amnesia of the first two films, that was a tried an tested method but they had to do something different to end the series with a bang. I think it is a decent film. The first Hangover will always be remembered as one of the top class modern comedies by the public and critics alike and a lot of the time it's hard to live up to that kind of success.

That being said this film will still give you some thrills, laughs and twists along the way, it's a 90 min action/thriller/comedy ride that fans of the franchise won't be to disappointed with.I would say if you only like the series and didn't love it don't go to the cinema to watch this last instalment you might leave wishing you had never spent the money, you're better off waiting for it to come out on DVD or sky movies if you have it.

The film will not be to everyone's liking. I enjoyed it, I hope you will too. Don't give up on it just because the critics hated. Remember most people like Part 2 despite the critics not liking it. It's all down to the type of films that you enjoy watching. I loved comedy/ action/ thriller amongst many other genres so I enjoyed it. Mr Chow was at his best in this film, so was Alan for that matter I thought the way his story ended was cool. It was a nice way to put the series to bed whilst tying up the loose ends. 

I give it 3.5/5 stars! Not as good as the first two but still an enjoyable ride.

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The Lion King - A Musical Phenomenon! - A Review

Hello my friends, long time no talk. My fault! I'm sorry!

Anyway this post is a long time coming (I saw the show on March 10th I know I know I'm a slacker please don't judge me I'm working on it!)

Without further ado a review of The Lion King the Musical

The Lion King arrived in cold and rainy Manchester in November 2012 before opening in December.  Even before performing a single show its stay in Manchester was extended due to record breaking ticket sales, as it makes its first long anticipated journey out of London. Manchester marks the second stop on the tour following an 11 week stint at The Bristol Hippodrome. It is a show that has a company of 52 performers, and it mixes puppets and actors to tell the classic Disney tale.

Now however the Lion King is coming to the end of its stay in Manchester as it plays its last show on the 20th of April, before heading over to Dublin for the third stop on a tour that is scheduled to visit 10 cities over a two and half year period. Having never previously seen the show I have always wondered exactly what it was that made this musical become the international phenomenon that it undeniably is. After all it can't solely be coming from the popularity of its source material in Walt Disney Animations classic 1994 film.

What I can tell you us that though I was excited to finally have the opportunity to see the show I was also a bit sceptical. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get past seeing someone with a lion mask on his head as just that or whether I would be pulled in to the point where I didn't notice. I hoped that the latter would be the case obviously. It's strange you'd a favourite character would be the obvious choice of Simba, but no the outstanding performance of the night for me came from the character Rafiki who was brilliantly portrayed by Gugwanan Dlamini. She provided a lot of the laughs in the show, alongside Timon and Pumba of course, who could forget about them.

Forget about the whole idea I had that I would only be able to see a human in a lion mask, my worries were quickly proved to be unnecessary. From the minute that the show began I was simply astounded by the sheer size of the production that was put on display. I don't think I will ever get the image of what was probably a life size elephant walking down on of the aisles of the theatre right past me during Circle of Life out of my head. It is a show that simply captures its audience and refuses to let you go. If there is anyone out there who is a fan of the film but isn't sure about seeing the musical [side note: I am told that the touring production actually uses a lot more dialogue etc from the film that the show in London does] go and see it. Please, I promise you won't regret it. The costume design alone was enough to just take my breath away and I would be lying if I was to tell you I didn't shed a tear at Mufasa's death like always.

(What can I say I'm an emotional wreck, my friends and family can vouch for that!)

For 14 years the Lion King has been wowing audiences at the Lyceum Theatre in London and when the show scheduled to close this Autumn is safe to say that this tour could well be your last chance to see it in the UK so don't miss out if it's something you want to see!

It gets a thumbs up and giant 4/5 stars from me!

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Oz The Great And Powerful - A review

Today was one of those days where I couldn't stand staying in the house for one more second. So I looked at Odeon's website and saw that Oz The Great And Powerful was showing. I remembered seeing the trailer for this film a while back and I decided I would go and watch it.

As most of you already know it stars James Franco as Oscar Diggs/ The Wizard of Oz. He is a con man magician making a living in a travelling circus, performing magic tricks, when a tornado hits and he finds himself in the magical land of Oz. Here he meets the Theodora played by Mila Kunis, who believes that he the prophecy come true and that he will rescue Oz from the Wicked Witch Glinda, thus taking is place as king. On his way to the Emerald City with Theodora, she falls in love with him and believes she will rule Oz by his side as Queen. They meet Finley the talking flying monkey who Oz rescues from a lion causing Theodora to believe whole heartedly that he is the Wizard.

Upon arrival at the Emerald City he meets Theodora's sister Evanora, who tells him that in order to become king he must kill the Wicked Witch by stealing and breaking her wand which is the source of her power, and that he can find her in the Dark Forest.

When they do eventually find Glinda it is revealed that Glinda is the good witch and in reality it is Evanora who is the Wicked Witch.

I will tell you no more than that because I don't want to spoil the rest of the film.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the original Wizard of Oz film, I find it to be a bit tedious and boring however because I enjoyed the musical Wicked, another tale about the witches of Oz I thought I would enjoy this film more. Which I did.

I went to watch the film in 3D which normally I try to avoid because it costs more but this showing time fit in with when I would be near the cinema. Having said that I'm actually really glad I went to see this film in 3D it had its moments were things jumped out of the screen (and a couple of those moments had me jumping in my seat) but mostly the 3D was used in the same way that it was used in say Avatar, to give the landscape more depth. In that respect the 3D was top notch as were the special effects, I was presently surprised.

There were a couple of funny one liners in the film that gave it an added bit of light-heartedness the story was good. The acting was good also. A few people I know have said they were sceptical about the casting of James Franco as the Wizard but I can tell you that he plays the part extremely well. As do Michelle Williams who pretty much epitomises my idea of how Glinda should appear. So obviously the casting directors did a wonderful job.

With all that in mind I give this film 4 stars. It is enjoyable viewing for anyone; it's just one of those films that let you escape the really world for two hours. Be warned that there maybe a couple of parts that some children may find scary; this is after all a PG film.

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