My opinions on the months of the year

Now that the UK has well and truly transitioned from Spring into Summer, the time has come again for the well known debates – which is your favourite season? Do you prefer the hot or the cold? Who wants a barbecue?

Well, the last one doesn’t quite match, but even still, it’s a question everyone is asking. 

But getting back onto topic. I have spoken about my favourite things about each season before, but never really gone into much detail. The time has come!

Spring

Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). The winter has dragged on for months, and everyone is well and truly fed up of waiting for the cold to go away, and the plants to start growing again. The first buds begin to grow on the trees and small green things start sprouting from the ground. Spring is, in itself, and okay season. After winter, it’s nice to see things turning green outside, even if the sky remains grey, and you still need to wear a jumper and coat when you go outside.

Of course, as Spring progresses, it does get warmer, but still. Pretty okay. Spring is probably the most difficult season for me to really talk about, because it’s such a bland season. Yes, plants start coming to life, and baby animals are born, and joy is in the air, but Spring is a month where not a lot really happens. Other than all the new life and stuff. For me, Spring has always been the month of nothingness, which you think will bring joy and weak sunlight pushing through the clouds, eradicating the coldness of Winter from the air, and making way for Summer, but instead, it’s miserable, rainy, and just as cold and upsetting.

I am not a big fan of Spring. Could you tell?!

Summer

After Winter lasting for ages, and Spring taking it’s sweet time morphing the world back into some sort of life, Summer finally arrives. It gets hot and dry, and people flock to the beach as barbecues and various meat products fly off supermarket shelves. Of course, within what feels like a week, it’s raining again, but still.

Summer is the reason I’m writing this post at all. I am sat on my bed writing this, with horrible sunburn on my shoulders, my upper back, and my chest. No, I did not sunbathe. I went on holiday to a seaside town, which is usually damp and depressing, and on a day where I still had goosebumps outside, I burned to a crisp. I didn’t think it was even remotely warm enough to even consider needing suncream. So, yeah. 

I am not a big fan of heat. There’s a phrase that I use many, many times throughout the year, that goes ‘it’s much easier to warm up than to cool down’. This is my own saying (as far as I’m aware). I much prefer the cold over the heat. Heat is too much to deal with. Everything slows down, even your own brain, and you can’t get comfortable properly because it’s too hot to get properly cosy. That being said, travelling in Australia is on my bucket list – considering I don’t do well with the heat, or with spiders, I am not sure how that’s going to go, but I’m looking forward to going there at some point, regardless.

Autumn

Ah, the favourite season of so many. The leaves on the trees begin to turn different shades, and the heat begins to die down. There may be a chill in the air, signalling the oncoming Winter, even through Winter is not quite here.

I do quite like Autumn. It’s pretty outside, it’s not too hot, not too cold. Autumn and Spring both seem to be passing seasons, just stepping in to bridge the gap between Winter and Summer. However, whereas Spring only really has the fact that Summer is on its way going for it, Autumn is a season to get excited for as well. 

One thing about Autumn that a lot of people get much more excited about than me is Halloween. I have never been much of a Halloween celebrator, I only ever went to one Halloween party, and that was at my own house when I was maybe six. I never went trick or treating, and it wasn’t very popular in my area, so we never really had people come to the door either. Halloween is just another day for me, except everyone on social media is in the mood to share creepy and scary things.

Winter

The season that either brings dread or joy. It might be cold, and dull, and everything is a little damp and grey, but there is something about waking up in the morning, going outside, and breathing in frosty air that really wakes you up and gives you a feeling of contentment. Plus, Christmas is in Winter, so everyone looks forward to it… but did you know that Winter doesn’t technically start until December 21st? No, Christmas isn’t smack bang in the middle of winter, it is right at the start. I can’t help but think that was poor planning. If it were at the end of winter, everyone would have something to look forward to!

I can’t quite tell if Winter or Autumn is my favourite season. I like the cooler weather more, but Autumn tends to be a little less wet than Winter… I do like wrapping up in various woollen garments, though, and Autumn is a little too warm to warrant that kind of behaviour.

So what is my verdict? I enjoy the cold more than the heat, so technically Spring and Winter, but by Spring, I’ve had enough of the cold, and so Spring is a disappointment. One week into Summer, though, and I can’t wait for Autumn, because it’s too hot, and I don’t like it. Basically, I don’t like weather that stays the same for any period of time longer than a week. If it could just rotate out with rain, sun, cold, and warmth, I would be happy. 

Of course, that’s entirely impossible.

Oh well.

Now I've finished writing this, I will sit, with my poor, burned, shoulders and back slathered in cream, waiting for the cool evening air to make it comfortable enough for me to get cosy wrapped up in a blanket. Which will probably not happen.

That's all for now...

Bye!

A Review – Veteran Dreams: Forever Young by Cherron Riser

Sometimes, even though I am full aware of the fact that I have over 220 unread ebooks, and many more physical books to read, I buy new books. Don't ask me why, I just do. Do I make an effort to read more of my to-read list, to make up for the new books I'm adding?

No.

Anyway, let's take a look at this book!

How could one party change so much?

It had been ten years since that night, and walking into the high school reunion, Lita wasn’t sure what to expect. Her mind was riddled with memories, and her heart was racing. The moment her eyes locked with Alex’s, her heart started to beat again, as if part of her had been dead all those years. Life certainly hadn’t gone as expected, and she had not lived up to the promises made that last night.

Feeling broken, Alex longed to move past the disappointment of his military career. After his friend convinced him to go to his ten-year high school reunion, he was surprised to find himself smitten with a girl from the past. Lita had been sweet and innocent back then, but was she still? Part of him longed to see.

The two of them fall into a whirlwind, wanting to help the other heal and pursue their dreams. But they may find the pressure is more intense than the passion the old spark ignited in them.

A stand-alone novel, Forever Young mixes passion and a drive for new beginnings in the Forever Young series.

Amazon UK • Amazon US

My Review!

I bought my copy of this book several months ago now. I did initially start reading it as soon as it had downloaded to my ereader, but for some reason, I never got further than the first chapter, and then didn’t read any more for weeks. When I finally did pick it up again, I read the whole book within two days. I am not sure why I never finished it initially, but I do wish I had read it sooner!

Alex had been Lita’s high school crush for ages, but it was a crush she never acted on. It was only when, at a party to celebrate the end of school, when Lita was dared to dance for Alex, that any sort of sparks seemed to fly. She drove him home afterwards, and he kissed her goodbye.

Ten years later, Lita’s artistic dreams have been pushed aside for a more realistic job, not that working in an office was ever part of her life plans. Going to her high school reunion wasn’t something she thought she would enjoy, but it was a chance to get away for a while. What she didn’t expect was to run into Alex again, and to find herself just as, if not more, attracted to him as she was ten years ago.

But neither Alex, nor Lita, are the same people they were ten years ago. Alex’s time in the military has left him in a wheelchair with a damaged back, and the girl Alex remembers was into writing stories and singing. Life has got in the way, and the dreams they both had ten years ago have dissipated. But with everything that has changed, the way they feel when they see each other hasn’t. But, Alex and Lita know the dreams they each had ten years ago, and while they want to help each other follow their dreams, maybe their dreams have changed. The Alex and Lita from ten years ago have grown up, and what they saw for their futures has been adapted as things have gone wrong.

Alex and Lita’s love develops quickly, but really, it has just been lying dormant for the last ten years. While neither of them acted on their feelings before, they can’t deny them now. Even just going out for coffee seems to be something they have been missing. While Lita has been independent and on her own, Alex has been unable to have such freedom, but together, they give each other what they each need. Lita finds the inspiration to pick up her old hobbies, and do something for herself for once, and Alex gains the courage to put in the effort to strengthen his body. They don’t depend on the other to give them what they need, but rather, the other person gives them a reason to push themselves further.

This is the kind of book you don’t want to put down. There is plenty of world building that makes the story seem very real. Lita is living away from her friends, but she keeps in touch, and their relationships and dramas help to flesh out Lita’s life. I loved Alex and Lita, and there are some incredibly steamy scenes in this book. Maybe not the book to read when you’re sat in the car, waiting to pick someone up… I speak from experience! I turned off my ereader very quickly when they got into the car!

There were some aspects of the story, nearer the end, that I started to find slightly unrealistic. There is a happy ending, but I wish it had gone in a different direction. It seemed slightly like things were happening just to make sure there was a happy ending, rather then because it was a natural way for the story to go. Nevertheless, I did really enjoy reading this book and getting to know the characters. There was a very strong theme of learning to do things for yourself, rather than doing them to please others, and I loved watching Lita and Alex both build confidence and realise that they did have the courage to do the things they wanted to do.

It mentions in the blurb that this book is a stand-alone novel in the Forever Young series. I can’t find any more books in this series, I think it may be the first, and I am not sure if any future books will follow on with Alex and Lita’s story, or if they will feature other characters, but I am excited to find out more about the series, and read more by this author.

And done!

All the way through writing this post, I have had a little symbol like this \ in blue at the bottom of the post. I am not sure what it is, or why it is there, I just know it's confusing me, because I can't select it to delete it, and it's not showing up on the actual post.

Weird.

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Movie Review – The Open House – how can you be completely sure you don't have an unexpected guest in your home?

Something I have started to realise – I only ever review thrillers and horror films. I review every kind of book, but the kind of movies I find myself watching are very limited.

It might be because I spend ages scrolling though lists of movies, trying to find something I actually want to watch, and I know for a fact that I enjoy movies that fall into those two genres, so I try to restrict the amount of time I spend searching by choosing a film from those genres.

Who knows.

Anyway, let me introduce you to this film, and then I can share my review!

Following a tragedy, a mother and her teen son move to a relative's vacant vacation home, where eerie and unexplained forces conspire against them.

My Review!

After the death of his father, Logan and his mother, Naomi, find themselves traveling to Naomi’s sister’s house in the mountains. They don’t have the money to stay living where they were, and going to the mountain house is a break, not only from everything going on, but also from the worry of having to find the money to keep a roof above their heads.

The house is massive, the kind of place you don’t live in, but vacation in. It is for sale, but Logan and Naomi are free to live there, to look after the place, as long as they make themselves scarce during open house events. But, strange things start to happen. Logan starts to hear strange banging sounds, and things go missing from one room, only to turn up in another. The water heater turns itself off, and Naomi repeatedly has to go down to the basement to relight the pilot light.

I was not entirely sure what I was getting myself in to when I clicked on this movie to watch. I honestly thought I was clicking on a thriller, not a horror, so you can imagine my surprise when there were creepy camera perspectives, and I started to wonder if I had perhaps clicked on something I didn’t realise. I must say, though, the camera shots are great. There are plenty of angles that have a little room for something creepy to just be in shot in the background, and it’s almost scarier when there’s nothing there.

It’s not really a spoiler, but if I don’t mention it, I can’t talk about the film at all. This film is about a home invasion, of someone hiding within the house while Logan and Naomi are there. The person is practically living there alongside them, but they don’t know. I think the reason I found this film as creepy as I did was because home invasion is a massive fear of mine. I am constantly afraid of getting up in the night to go to the bathroom, as both Logan and Naomi do in this film, and realising I am not alone. The camera shots really bring all of that together, into a film that actually creeped me out, and not many horror films have ever done that.

Something I liked about this film was that Logan and Naomi are not a strong team, fighting together against the grief of losing Logan’s father. They are divided. Logan never wanted to move anyway, and was not given much of a choice on the matter. Not only did he lose his father, his life was turned upside-down. Meanwhile, Naomi is just trying to get by on what little money they have. They fight, accuse each other of doing things. The house they are in is much too big for just two people to be living in it, so in a way, they are more than just alone, they are isolated from each other and the outside world. 

I have never really come across open houses as a method of selling a house. It might just be not done in the area where I live, I am not sure. To me, the idea of people just wandering around your house, and you not having any idea where they are in the house, or what they are doing as they walk around, is ridiculous. There is a perfect quote from the film, that entirely sums up what my thoughts are on the matter:

I mean, you give your keys to someone you hardly know, they stand in one room and welcome in a bunch of complete strangers, and those people just roam around the house. And the realtor doesn't check the house when it's done, right? They just... turn the lights off and go?

Doesn’t it just seem like the perfect opportunity for people to walk in and steal stuff, or plant things… or stay... the list of bad things I can think of happening is endless, and yet, this isn’t just something that happened in the movie, people actually do open houses? Maybe it’s less creepy if the house isn’t quite as big as the one in this film. I just know if strangers were walking around my house, I would want to know where they were at all times. I am getting off topic!

It seems to be becoming a thing, where I watch a film, and when I look the film up afterwards, so I can get all the necessary information about it to write a review, I find it has countless bad reviews. At least this time, there are some good reviews to counter the bad. Yes, there isn’t much of a conclusion at the end, and yes, there isn’t much plot. But, the entire movie builds suspense, and the ending was creepier without a conclusion. There was no answer to the why, and it’s the not knowing that makes this scary. Logan and Naomi don’t know there’s someone in their house. The viewer doesn’t know who is in the house, or why. I knew this was a good film while I was watching it, for the simple reason that I realised I was scared. I don’t get scared at horror films, this is not me bragging, I just don’t. I see the camera shots, predict the jump scares depending what is in the scene. I try to guess the ending before the film has even started. But I went into this film thinking it was a thriller, so I wasn’t trying to guess a horror film ending. Yes, I appreciated the camera shots, but there weren’t many jump scares, if any, really. This was a film built on tension, about something that scares me in real life, and I was sucked into the film so much that I actually felt scared. I do think this is a film that you will either love or hate, but for me, I definitely love it.

And done!

This is actually the longest review I have ever written for a movie. It might be the longest review on this blog. It does include a quote from the film, and a rant about why I think open houses are a bad idea, but still.

Also, that tagline on the cover? You can't lock out what's already inside. It makes me shudder just thinking about it.

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!