Things I Did Whilst Self Isolating

I think we can agree that quarantine was a strange time. Not having the freedom to go out and live life like "normal" wasn't an easy adjustment but I decided to make a list of the things I did whilst self-isolating. I have been adding to this list since lock-down began and reading it back made me smile. Despite the year not being what any of us planned, honestly 2020 has still been memorable in good ways. This list consists of things that I did in lockdown 1, 2 and 3 (yikes). If you didn't know, England went into national lockdown three times. The first being between March and July, the second, November-December and then January 2021 - April. Now we are finally starting to get back to normal life, with everything being open and mass gatherings becoming legal again. In light of "freedom", I thought it would be a great time to post this. 

Books I Want To Read In 2019

If you know me, you'll be very much aware of my love for books. Reading is one of those things that I just get so much happiness and excitement from. Unfortunately with doing an English Language degree, I don't have much time to read my own material, however I still have a list of books I would like to read this year. I make a TBR (To Be Read) list every year but I realised the other day that I've never actually shared them with you guys. Today is the day that changes!

I'm always encouraging people to read because there are so many benefits to reading. Hopefully you'll be interested in one of these books too.

I'm pretty sure that this list will be added to over the year, however this is the list I came up with over the last week.

(This is in no particular order and the descriptions are all from goodreads)

1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. 

2. The Thousandth Floor by Katherine Mcgee
NEW YORK CITY AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.

A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough.

WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118.

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose.

LEDA COLE’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

ERIS DODD-RADSON’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

RYLIN MYERS’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one?

WATT BAKRADI is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is AVERY FULLER, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you're this high up, there's nowhere to go but down....

3. The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah
France, 1939
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences. 

4. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

5. Always Never Yours by Emma Wibberley and Austin Siegemund Broka
Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper is about due for her next sweeping romance. It's inevitable—each of her relationships starts with the perfect guy and ends with him falling in love . . . with someone else. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, Megan focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream college's acting requirement in the smallest role possible.

So when she’s cast as Juliet (yes, that Juliet) in her high school’s production, it’s a complete nightmare. Megan’s not an actress, and she’s used to being upstaged—both in and out of the theater. In fact, with her mom off in Texas and her dad remarried and on to baby #2 with his new wife, Megan worries that, just like her exes, her family is moving on without her.

Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright inspired by Rosaline from Shakespeare's R+J. A character who, like Megan, knows a thing or two about short-lived relationships. Megan agrees to help Owen with his play in exchange for help catching the eye of a sexy stagehand/potential new boyfriend. Yet Megan finds herself growing closer to Owen, and wonders if he could be the Romeo she never expected.

6. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.

7. The Seven Husbands of Everlyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.

8. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

9. Still Me by JoJo Moyes

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.

As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you find the courage to follow your heart--wherever that may lead?

10. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.

Sephy is a Cross -- a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought -- a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum -- a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?

11. One of us is lying by Karen M. McMarcus
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. 
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. 
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? 
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

12. The Wait by Meagan Good and DeVon Franklin
Hollywood power couple DeVon Franklin and Meagan Good candidly share about their courtship and marriage, and the key to their success—waiting.

President/CEO of Franklin Entertainment and former Sony Pictures executive DeVon Franklin and award-winning actress Meagan Good have learned sometimes all we can do is wait for “the one” to come into our lives. They spent years crossing paths but it wasn’t until they were thrown together while working on the film Jumping the Broom that their storybook romance began.

Faced with starting a new relationship and wanting to avoid potentially devastating relationship pitfalls, DeVon and Meagan chose to do something almost unheard of in today’s society—abstain from sex until they were married.

In The Wait, DeVon and Meagan share the life-changing message that waiting—rather than rushing a relationship—can help you find the person you’re meant to be with. Filled with candid his-and-hers accounts of the most important moments of their relationship, and practical advice on how waiting for everything—from dating to sex—can transform relationships, allowing you to find a deep connection based on patience, trust, and faith.

What Books do you want to read this year? Let me know in the comments. 

Thanks for reading, 
Have a great day x 

Christmas Wishlist 2017

YAY! My first post of the Christmas season is finally here. I will be doing Blogmas this year, however instead of everyday like last year, I will be posting three times a week until the New Year. It won't be on set days, just three posts every week until January 1st. The reason for doing this is because of time. I actually don't finish sixth form for the holidays until December 22nd which is just awful and should be illegal in my opinion. I'm constantly busy with school, so I wouldn't have any time to write and post everyday, however I will definitely be able to do it next year when I'm at university, since I SHOULD have more time for myself.

Anyway, for my first post, I thought I would share my Christmas wish list for this year. I find that doing them helps my family and friends out a lot. I am in no way expecting these things, it is just a collection of things I am WISHING for and anything I don't get, I can either buy for myself or live without it. It is perfectly fine.

Beauty:

Morphe 35P- I've always wanted to try a Morphe Palette and wanted to try the 35F last year but didn't ask for it in the end. Purple is my favourite colour to wear on my eyes since it makes my brown eyes really stand out and suits my complexion well.

Nail Polish- I wear nail polish all the time and my nails are rarely bare so I go through bottles very quickly. I'm really in need of some new ones, so I figured I'd put it on my wishlist. My favourite brand is OPI and Primark do some really nice ones too.

Real Techniques Sponge- I own this sponge already but I need to replace it. I was going to buy it myself but thought I would put it on my list since it's a good stocking stuffer and saves me £6 haha.

A makeup brush pot- I need some brush holders/pots so I put it on my list.

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion- This went on my list last year and I got it. I love it so much and I ran out about three months ago but never got around to ordering another bottle, so here it is on my list again.

An Ofra Highlighter- This one is super optimistic because I really don't need anymore highlighters BUT I have been wanting an Ofra highlighter pretty much all year. It was 50% off on Black Friday but went out of stock about an hour before I was ready to buy it.

Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer- This is the product I have been wanting to try the most from FB but I can't seem to bring myself to spend £16 on a lip-gloss when I have so many other things I have to buy. I thought I'd put it on my list but if I don't get it, I will get it in the new year as a treat for myself.

A Highlighter Brush- My highlighter brush has seen better days and I definitely need a new one. I hear the Morphe R37 is really good.

Debenhams Gift Card- There are so many other makeup bits I would love to get so I put a Debenhams gift card on my list so that I would be able to buy them myself.

Fashion:

Gym Clothing- I want to get into fitness and dancing again, so I've asked for some gym clothing, like sports bras and leggings etc.

Cute Underwear Sets- I get this every year anyway. I'm a girl, cute underwear is necessary.

Loungewear two piece- They just look so comfortable and definitely something I would get a lot of wear out of. I live in leggings and hoodies most the time.

High-Waisted Skinny Jeans- You can never have too many.

Camo Jeans/Bottoms- These can either look awful or amazing, but I'm willing to take the risk. I have seen so many cute outfits with Camo trousers that I hope I can rock.

New Trainers- I don't have a specific preference or idea of what type, but I am DESPERATE for new trainers. As long as they're comfy and go with most things, I'm happy.

A New School Bag- I have had my school bag for over a year and I think its time to switch it now. I definitely want black this time and something fairly big in size. This Adidas one is perfect. I'm more for practicality over anything else when it comes to bags for sixth form.

Oversized Hoodie- I live in my oversized hoodie from Primark. I wear it all the time and I think I'm probably going to end up collecting oversized hoodies now. I'm 5'2 so everything oversized can literally be wore as a dress. Sometimes I do that and wear shorts underneath.

A Silver Ring- I already have a sterling silver ring that my Dad got me for my 16th Birthday and I wear it almost everyday. I love it and would love another ring to wear with it or interchangeably.

Nude Heels- I'm the same size as my Mum so we borrow each other's shoes all the time. My mum has a pair of nude stilettos that are super nice and fit me perfectly but I find them extremely high, so I would love a pair of my own that I can walk in.

Clothing Gift Card- Similar to the reason for the Debenhams card, I would love to buy so many things, so having a gift card would make things so much easier.

Tech:

A New Phone- I've had my Samsung Galaxy J5 for 2 years now and it's literally on it's death bed. It is constantly mal-functioning.

Earphones- I haven't broken or lost mine yet but give it another few months, so may as well get a backup right?

A Phone Ring- I would only need this if I get the phone. I have one on my current phone but once you stick it on, you can't take it off, so you'd need to buy a new one for another phone.

A light up mirror- My Mirror is super old, so I do need to replace it. I have heard great things about this light up mirror and it would make doing makeup at 6:15am every morning so much easier, especially in the winter.

A Phone Ring Light- This is just something I have heard a lot of beauty gurus use and their Instagram pictures are always amazing so....

Stationery and Other Bits:

The Peony Happiness Planner- I actually won it in an Instagram Back To School Giveaway and should be receiving it as a Christmas present from them as I'll be receiving the 2018 version. It is sooooo beautiful, and I am still so happy I won it.

A 2018 Weekly Planner- I just need a regular weekly planner for sixth form and stuff to write deadlines and things. I usually get mine from Poundland, which I am totally happy with.

Book Tabs- I need some book tabs for school notes and textbooks. This is a good stocking stuffer that costs like 40p and something I will use.

A Stapler- I had a stapler last year that I used all the time at sixth form but managed to snap it in half back in September. I've really missed having one in my bag because I can never find one in sixth form Like EVER. Plus it seems to be my most borrowed item ever so its a present for about 20 of us.

Dear John (book)- I LOVE Nicolas Sparks books but I have never read or seen Dear John before. I've watched the trailer and it looks amazing. I always read the books before watching the films though so I've asked for it this Christmas.

Forever 21 Stationery Set- I love marble and I love stationery.

Pens- I always need pens and get them pretty much every Christmas. Can't start a new term or new year without fresh ink hehe (wow I'm lame)

So this is my wishlist. I OBVIOUSLY do not expect to receive all this. If I did, then I would be a very happy girl, however I really don't expect all these things. I hope if friends/family are seeing this, it has been some help.

Thanks for reading,
Have a great day x