The past few books I've read have been, well, a bit crap, and I was desperately craving a book to get me out of that slump. You know when you've read shite book after shite book and you just feel like perhaps you're on a downward spiral of reading really shite books? Well, THANK GOODNESS that this book broke my very small but equally unfortunate bad luck of reading shite books.

Humans have conquered mortality and are now living in a conflict-free world, overlooked and ran by the Thunderhead (think of it as an invisible government but with a conscience), however, the only thing this seemingly perfect artificial intelligence cannot govern is death. The only way to die on Earth is to be "gleaned", and the only way to be gleaned, is by a scythe, of which are ran and overlooked by the Scythedom - something that the Thunderhead cannot and will not interfere with.

We follow two main characters, Citra and Rowan, who are chosen involuntarily to go head-to-head in a year-long apprenticeship under Honorable Scythe Faraday's tutoring to be a scythe. Only one of them will win. The winner, will have to glean the other, which would have far less complications had they not have fallen in love with one another.

The story is extremely cleverly written, but was done so in a way that was easy to follow along. The writing style was descriptive and kept you entertained with plot twists throughout that you never saw coming, but it never over-complicated things. No one needs a 3 page description of what a town or character looks like, and Shusterman managed to somehow create a very vivid world without babbling on about irrelevant settings and descriptives that held no value to the story.

There are a couple of things that really stood out to me in this book. The first was the contrast between the gleanings of Scythe Faraday and Scythe Curie. Faraday likes to mourn his subject, to let them write a letter of goodbye to family members, to talk with them and let them know the reasonings for their gleaning before going through with the act. Curie on the other hand, prefers to glean people instantaneously, without any prior warning to them, just like it would have happened in the Age of Mortality - the time before humans conquered death. Curie's methods almost seem a little brutal at first, probably because we spend the first half of the book learning of Faraday's methods, which appear much gentler and under calmer circumstances than Curie's. It's not until Curie's conversation with Citra that she explains why she gleans people the way she does. It almost makes you realise that there's no right or wrong way about doing something, and it all comes down to personal choice.

Speaking of Curie, I think it's interesting that people view her as "The Great Dame of Death" and she is somewhat of a legend in the Scythedom. People outside of the Scythedom fear her. She is a living, breathing, cold-hearted monster to a lot of people. But it's only when she takes Citra under her wing when her current mentor, Faraday, is supposedly killed by another scythe (sorry, the title did say spoilers), that we see an entirely different side to her. Her gleanings might seem brutal, but it's what she does after her gleanings that takes you by surprise. She invites all of the family of the gleaned victim to her house and cooks them all a meal, and listens, really listens to stories of their lives.

Whilst Citra and Rowan are pitted against one another, this isn't an all-out race to the finish line with cheap thrills along the way. It is a uniquely in-depth look into an incredible world that had its expertly placed twists and turns along the way that kept making me want to read just one more chapter.

Whilst the writing was amazing and the character development was impeccable and the plot twists really did take you by surprise, something I didn't quite get to grasps with was the relationship between Citra and Rowan. The whole book is primarily faced around them going head-to-head with one another, however, there isn't enough development in the first half of the book that justifies them being overly close, except for an odd glance at one another here and there, but other than that, we have very little to work with in terms of being invested in them as a couple - as separate characters I think they are great, but rooting for them to be together is a little difficult as there's no substantial development to warrant doing so

I think the story and the plot twists were unpredictable and very well written, and I'm already diving into it's sequel, Thunderhead, before the third book, The Toll, is realised on 5th November here in the UK.

Verdict: ★★★★★

Well, this is a bit awkward, isn't it?

I have literally just done a book haul, but here I am, spending more money on overpriced books and writing another book haul post.

Sorry, bank account.

(But not really.)

There are a fair few books that I have been struggling to get ahold of lately that I have desperately been wanting to add to my collection. And I'm impatient. So there's that issue too.

The first lot of books I actually got for a really good price from The Works. It initially started because I watched After on Netflix and then found out that it was actually based from a book, which I had no idea even existed. One of my major pet peeves is watching a film/series before I've read the book, so naturally I immediately felt an inner urge to buy the book even though I thought the film was crap. I ended up picking this up along with One Perfect Christmas by Paige Toon as I've read (and reviewed!) the first book in this duo series. I also picked up The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon to add to my collection of Paige Toon books. Each of these books were £2 each which I thought was a bargain price.

I've since found out that After is the first book in a 5 book series and now I'm wondering where on earth I have been because apparently these books are quite popular (quite an obvious statement given that it was turned into a film).

Then I had a little wander over to Waterstones (which is always a dangerous idea but I was in a book buying mood okay) and ended up picking up far more books than I originally anticipated.

I've been after picking up the Caravel series by Stephanie Garber for a good couple of years now but the prices for these books online are ridiculous and I could never find the 3rd book in store anywhere. Until this day of course. I picked up Caravel, Legendary, and Finale and yes it bothers me that the first two books are paperbacks and the last is a hardback and no it did not bother me enough to not buy them.

On the same shopping trip, I also picked up a couple of books for my daughter for Christmas. I picked The Roald Dahl's Treasury and The Jolly Postman because HELLO CLASSICS. She is really getting into her books lately and I figured that these would be the perfect Christmas presents and I already cannot wait to read them to her before bedtime.

And then, because I really am fucking weak, I went back into Waterstones on my lunch break at work a few days later because I simply needed to pick up a couple of books that I have heard nothing but AMAZING things about and somehow managed to resist the first time around but could not stop thinking about them and carried with me a feeling of regret for the whole of 48 hours before I gave in. The books in question are Scythe by Neal Shusterman and the second book, Thunder Head. The 3rd book, The Toll, is due to be released next month I believe, and you betcha that I will be storming back into Waterstones on release day.

Now, I'm off to hunt for the rest of the After books...

Title: Let's Meet on Platform 8
Author: Carole Matthews
Publisher: Red Dress Ink
Pages: 304
Publication date: 1st January 1997
Genre: Chick-lit

A bad story, written well.

I've read a few Carole Matthews books over the years, and I've never really disliked any of them. But Let's Meet on Platform 8 might just be the book that came closest to the making that statement a lie.

It follows the story of Teri and Jamie who bump into each other (quite literally) on platform 8 of a London train station, and their love soon blossoms. However, Jamie is a married man to Pamela and they have two children together, which leaves both of them in a bit of a whadda-we-do kinda predicament.

What they do, is meet on the same train every morning, and again after work, in secret behind Pamela's back. Yes, Jamie and Teri sleep together, and yes, Pamela also cheats on Jamie with her boss, and no Jamie doesn't leave his wife for Teri and everything kinda ends happily ever after for Jamie and Pamela (sort of) when his job announces that he is being relocated. But the constant sickness that Teri put down to a an overindulgence of a failed romantic meal in, might just have something to do with the her and Jamie sleeping together.

And that's pretty much how the story goes.

It's nothing groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the first three quarters of the book are a bit - okay a lot - flat and it's pretty much Jamie just sulking that he has a wife but he loves Teri also.

This is Carole Matthews' debut novel and it was released back in 1997. This book might have been a thriving chick-lit novel back then, who knows (I certainly don't) but reading this in 2019 makes for a pretty bland read, and that's got nothing to do with Carole Matthews writing style - in fact, I think the book would have been even more bland had it not been Carole Matthews writing it.

The story was one that I didn't click with. I understand the meaning behind the story - adultery will get you nowhere and relationships can be complicated. No marriage is perfect and often things become stale and bit lacklustre. I didn't sympathise with any of the characters except Charlie and Clare. Teri and Jamie were far too self absorbed and Pamela was a bitch to her husband even before he had an affair, but then she suddenly decided that him having an affair meant that she had to try harder in their marriage and show Jamie the love that he deserves (but does he though hun?) The ending brought no closure to the story either, and brought a typical and predictable chick-lit twist that you could see coming from a mile off which meant it wasn't really that much of a shock.

What I will give credit for though, is that considering this book is now 22 years old, it didn't come off as dated. Yes, there were typical 90's references in it, but it didn't interfere with the reading style in any way.

I wouldn't recommend it. And I wouldn't re-read it. It's not Carole Matthew's best work, and it's far from being her best book. However, I am glad I've read it purely because I am a fan of Carole Matthews and I'm glad I have her first novel in my collection, but that's as far as it goes in terms of my gratitude for this book.

Verdict: ★★

I've read a few Carole Matthews books previously, and I've enjoyed all the ones I have read from her; they're on the lower end of tacky on the chick-lit spectrum, which I prefer. There's a fine line between chick-lit and books that sound as if a newly in-love 14 year old girl has written. So when I was in the Lake District a couple of weeks ago, I popped into a little bookshop and noticed a whole section of Carole Matthews books on offer. The deal was £4 each or 4 books for £10 and low and behold, there were 8 books in total, so I nabbed all of them and I'm not in the slightest bit sorry about it.

One thing I love about Carole Matthews books is the illustrations on the covers. I'm a sucker for a good illustration and these are definitely up there my favourite.

The books I picked up were Happiness for Beginners, Let's Meet on Platform 8, Million Love Songs, A Minor Indiscretion, With or Without You, The Chocolate Lover's Wedding, For Better For Worse and Welcome to the Real World.

I believe that Let's Meet on Platform 8 is the first book she ever realised back in the 90's, so it's quite an old book and probably the first one I'm going to read out the ones I've picked up. The Chocolate Lover's Wedding is part of a series which I am hoping to either track the other 3 books down in a shop or order them online, and Happiness for Beginners is her most recent novel and was published earlier this year.

There are very few authors in the chick-lit genre that I actually buy books from, but Carole Matthews is definitely up there with the ones I do like, and I'm happy to have these books now in my collection!

Title: The Last of the Bowmans
Author: J. Paul Henderson
Publisher: Oldcastle Books Ltd
Pages: 288
Publication date: 21st January 2016
Genre: Humorous Fiction, Domestic Fiction

I absolutely hate writing negative book reviews for two reasons, the first being that it means I've wasted my time reading a shit book, the other being I hate coming across as negative and unappreciative of a book because authors work their busy little fingertips off writing books that they are incredibly proud of, and then in comes me, ready to shit all over it.

But there's no easy or polite way to write about a book you really didn't enjoy, and The Last Of The Bowmans by J. Paul Henderson was unfortunately for me, one of those books.

The blurb;
"After an absence of seven years, Greg Bowman returns home from America to find his father lying in a bamboo coffin, his estranged brother Billy stalking a woman with no feet, and his 79 year-old Uncle Frank planning to rob a bank. While renovating the family house, he is unexpectedly visited by the presence of his dead father and charged with the task of 'fixing' the family. In the course of his reluctant investigations, Greg discovers an unsettling secret of his father's, and one that brings him face to face with the consequences of his own past."
I picked this up thinking it sounded like an interesting concept and nothing like I have in my collection. I was in the mood for something light-hearted and easy to read and this sounded like the perfect fit.

First off, it took me SO long to get through this book despite it being less than 300 pages. I started reading it and then life got a little crazy and I struggled to find the time to read. It became quickly apparent from the beginning that this book wasn't my cup of tea, which meant that when I did find a bit of spare time to read, I didn't immediately rush to pick up this book.

It was too long winded and the first half of the book is a bit of a slow burner. It's only around the half way point that anything actually even really happens, and when anything remotely interesting does happen, it's too far fetched to be believable.

The characters are completely unrelatable and act in a way that isn't in the slightest bit believable. They do and say things that are so unrealistic that it's hard to get to grips with them. Jean is far too bitter, Uncle Frank is too grumpy even for a grumpy old man, Billy is hiding a secret that is too unrealistic and so far fetched that it's gone past the point of being funny, Lyle acts too weird even for a dead person (like appearing in his deceased wife's dresses and ball gowns with no real explanation as to why) and Greg doesn't seem overly shocked about any of these revelations.

The dialog is too forced and not realistic at all, and there's a LOT of dialogue. The book comes across as trying too hard to be quirky and relevant when actually, it could have been a very fun and interesting read had the characters and storyline not been so forced and so beyond belief.

The story just didn't take me anywhere. I wasn't invested in the plot or the characters. I couldn't relate to anything the characters did or had done, which made it hard for me to warrant investing in this story.

I will say, however, that the last chapter of the book (they are really long chapters) does redeem itself very narrowly and the book ended on a much lighter, nicer note than all the chapters previous to it.


I often base my reviews on if I would genuinely recommend the books to friends and family, and in this case, the answer is simply no.

Verdict: ★★

Oh Lord has this dog had his fair share of issues over the past 12 months.

I've sat down to write this post the day after getting back from the Lake District after Rhody's one year post-op check up and I cannot believe that it's been almost a year to the day that Rhody had corrective eye surgery in the hopes of restoring his lost vision. It's a bit of a long-winded story as to how he lost his sight, so I'll try and keep it short which ***probably*** won't happen. But in order to do that, we need to start with the April of 2018, with a then 7 month old Rhody.

After noticing a small (and I mean s-m-a-l-l) white dot on his right eye, I initially dismissed it because it was so minute I wasn't sure if it was actually even a white dot or just the reflection of a light in the background. I noticed it again a couple of days later, and after quickly snapping a photo and uploading it to one of the pug forums I'm part of, it was clear that I needed to get it seen to and checked out, as the responses came in thick and fast; it's an ulcer, get it seen to immediately. 

After an initial panic of thinking I was the worst dog owner EVER for initially dismissing it, I got him booked into an out-of-hours vets the same night, and it became clear that it wasn't an ulcer, but in fact something much, much more serious. The vet we saw immediately called her friend, who happened to be a veterinary surgeon at an eye specialist practise. He wanted to see Rhody the very next day and booked him in straight away. It's at this point that I remember thinking shit, something definitely isn't right here because what vet calls their vet-friend at half past midnight on a Sunday night? The said vet-friend was based about 80 miles from where we lived, but we managed to make it down there the next morning.


Because the practice we were at specialised only in vision, they had all the fancy tech to do all the necessary checks and tests. It came back that he had a cataract. But cataracts don't just happen for no reason and they certainly don't just suddenly appear in 7 month old dogs with no explanation. There is always a cause. The cause in this case, was because of a persistent hyaloid artery. A hyaloid artery is an artery that a pup develops when they are in the womb (one hyaloid artery for each eye). It provides nourishment to the eyeballs, and then detaches within 21 days of the pup being born. His right eye's hyaloid artery never detached. Not only did it not detach, but there was active blood flow passing through it.

We had 3 options.

1. Perform no surgery and treat the cataract with drops and monitor it frequently in the hopes of it not getting worse.

2. Perform just the cataract surgery and leave the hyaloid artery alone in the hopes that it doesn't cause any further problems. Again, it would need consistent monitoring.

3. Clamp and cut the artery and let it fall to the back of the eye. Perform the cataract surgery at the same time to restore his vision. This would require less monitoring in the long term, but it's a tricky surgery to perform.

For me, there really wasn't any other option than option number 3. If the artery had caused this many problems in as little as 7 months, who knew what problems would crop up in 2, 5 10 years time? Despite the complications that came with this surgery (not to mention the expense), we knew that going down the surgery route was what was best for Rhody in the long run. We didn't want him constantly being prodded and poked at by vets his entire life. We didn't want to live with the fear that one day, it was going to come and and cause him yet more problems.

We got him booked in for the surgery on the 8th August 2018 and we stayed overnight. We dropped him off at 8am and his surgery was booked for 9am, and would take approximately 4 hours. 2pm came and we heard nothing. 2:30pm came and we heard nothing. 3pm came and we heard nothing. I gave the surgery a call, and was told he was still in the operating theatre and his surgeon would give me a call as soon as he was out.

3:30pm came (a whole 6.5 hours after the operation started) and so did the phone call; the surgery was far more complex than anyone could have ever imagined.

What the tests had failed to pick up on, was that the artery had attached itself to his retina and was on the verge of causing retinal detachment. The vet said that if he had gone untreated for another month, the retina would have detached, his eyeball filled with fluid, and would probably have burst within a matter of hours.

He had to perform laser eye surgery on the retina to attach it back in place. But the problem was that the retina was in such a poor condition because it had thousands of tiny holes and blemishes in it that he had to laser around them. Then he had to clamp and cut the artery. Then he had to do the cataract surgery. That's three pretty major eye surgeries in one go. But the vet was confident that his eye was now in a much better state, and there was no reason why his vision wouldn't be restored. He predicted that he should have around 80% vision restoration.


But there's always a but, isn't there?

What no one could have predicted before this surgery, was that Rhody also has abnormally thin blood vessels in this eye. Now, when you're talking about a now 10 month old pug puppy, who has just had extensive eye surgery, has one of those medical collars around his neck to stop him scratching at it, and has to have drops administrated to his eye every 60 minutes, he's not going to cooperate and hes not going to stay still - he's going to shake his head constantly, likes dogs do when they're trying to dry off. Doing so caused those abnormally thin blood vessels to burst over and over again and each time it would cover his eye in a layer of blood, which prevented the cataract surgery from healing, which meant his vision was never restored.

It's unfortunate, but he's coping incredibly well. But the sad news is, is that this is the end of the road for him ever getting his vision back in that eye.

But that was a year ago, so where are we at now?

We have just got back from his one year post-op check up, and the right eye has shrunk and gone dormant. He has absolutely no vision in that eye, and removing it as this point would literally only be for cosmetic reasons, which honestly doesn't bother me in the slightest. He isn't in any pain and is completely comfortable, which of course is the main thing.

The bad news is that his left eye now needs surgery. Absolutely bloody fantastic. There is a layer of pigmentation covering his eyeball due to his eye being so exposed to the environment, which isn't totally uncommon in pugs. He is booked in for surgery next month to have laser eye surgery to remove as much of the pigmentation as possible, and then have the inner corner of his eye sewn shut to help prevent the problem reoccurring. As surgeries go, this is a fairly straight forward one and should give him some vision back in that eye.

It's been a rough ride these past 12 months with him, but he has handled life like an absolute champ. He doesn't act blind, like, you wouldn't necessarily guess he was blind if you met him for the first time - perhaps it's because he's lived longer being blind now than not, but all in all he is a happy and content little pup but it's heartbreaking knowing how much crap has been thrown his way in such a short period of time.

He might bump into things every now and again and he might have misjudged the lakes one too many times yesterday and fallen in, but other than that he is an absolute little bundle of sweetness and I'm hoping one day we can enjoy a life of no further surgeries and no more 80 mile trips to the vet!