A Review – Take Me Now by Nancy Jardine

How can anyone ever say no to a free book? There's a reason it's my favourite thing to come across!

Free books means so many more stories to read, and I never pass up the opportunity to get my hands on a free book – no matter the genre, author, anything. It's like Christmas every time I come across one!

The bonus always comes when it's an author I'm already familiar with, and I get a chance to read a book I likely would have read anyway, and I get to go into it already knowing I will enjoy it before even reading the first sentence.

So, let me introduce my most recent read!

Conclusions jumped at too soon. Sabotage and attempted murder? Hilarious predicaments.

Patience isn’t Nairn Malcolm’s strong point when someone sabotages his business. It gets much worse when he, too, is under attack. He needs someone who can transport him from his Scottish island castle base to destinations across the globe and also help him keep his business interests running smoothly. Who could be all that, and available to him 24/7?

Aela Cameron’s skills are perfect for Nairn’s current predicament. Transporting him across the globe is a pushover. Dangerous situations don’t faze her, in fact they make her more determined to solve the mystery of Nairn’s saboteur. She’s not into passing flings – yet how can she resist her new boss as time runs out on her temporary contract?

Is Nairn seeking the impossible? Can Aela find a compromise?

Grab a copy!

My Review!

One of my favourite kinds of book are ones that you are drawn into instantly, and don't want to put down. They are the kinds of book that you hold close and simply devour. This was one of those such books.

Nairn Malcolm is incredibly business minded. He can't simply sit by and let his employees do the work for him, but instead has an intense need to be in the know, to keep up with everything happening in his companies, and stay up to date with any changes or developments. When a motorbike accident leaves him in plaster casts, and struggling to even walk around his house, he knows he can't keep going in the same way he always has, but still tries to hold on tightly to his control.

Enter Aela Cameron. She holds the relevant licences to drive, fly, or sail all of Nairn's different vehicles and forms of transport, and knows her way around administrative responsibilities. Taking the job as his PA would open up opportunities for her, and give her the funds to help set her up for further education. But she never anticipated the job being quite so demanding, nor her boss being quite so handsome and frustrating.

Nairn expects of Aela the same level of commitment to his companies that he himself has. A 24 hour contract means that she is constantly on call, no matter what time he decides to fly to a different country, or attend business meetings. The work is difficult, but rewarding, and Aela finds herself enjoying her new role, if not growing increasingly more frustrated with her new boss. Nairn is infuriating, his moods changing like the wind. One moment, he is charming and pleasant, and the next, Aela battles with a short-tempered and rude man. The constant switches in Nairn's personality give Aela cause to push down whatever she might feel for him during his more pleasant moments. Although, she can't deny, he is incredibly attractive.

I found myself increasingly sympathetic towards Nairn. He is used to being able to do everything for himself, whether it is driving himself around, keeping on top of his multiple businesses, or even simple things such as cutting up his own food, or doing up the buttons on his shirt. Multiple injuries have left him reliant on others to help him, and the frustration is clear. Despite his understandable mood swings, he is an incredibly kind character, and his business sense and abilities to keep track of so many things at once is remarkable.

Aela, too, I found myself liking almost instantly. She doesn't put up with Nairn's snarky comments, and pulls him up on things that others wouldn't dare to mention. She is smart, witty, and brings a whole other level of humour to this story, as she is not afraid to back down, and speaks her mind. Between her and Nairn, there is a lot of miscommunications, and when they both jump to conclusions, which happens often, things seem to get lost in translation. Arguments and misunderstandings lead to some fairly humorous situations and conversations, which lighten the story and make the characters all seem so much more real.

Of course, this is not just simply a sweet romance of a grumpy boss and his sarcastic PA, although that is certainly an important element of the novel! There is a mystery afoot – sabotage is rife within Narin's businesses, products arriving damaged, orders tampered with, accidents resulting in property damage. There is even cause to believe that Nairn's motorcycle accident was not simply an accident. With someone in the company causing problem after problem, and Nairn relatively unable to intervene due to his injuries, tensions rise quickly and as he and Aela travel the globe attending business meetings, it quickly becomes apparent that whoever is behind everything is not finished yet. With this extra level of tension, this novel escalates from an office romance to an in-depth mystery, with hidden dangers around every corner. Trying to figure out who is causing such mayhem, and their motive, creates a fast-paced story that you can't possibly put down!

This is a novel I absolutely devoured. It didn't take me long to get through this book at all, I read most of it in one sitting because it drew me in and I couldn't step away. If you are after a romance with a twist, with characters you will simply fall in love with, look no further!

And done!

I actually read most of this book at work, on a really quiet day when there was not much else to be done... shhhhhh!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Bumblebee Pebbles – Chapter Four

Summer

“But what actually happened?” Jeanie asked as she leaned across the table. I shrugged, picking the seeds off the bun of my burger. 

“I don’t know, one minute we were fine and then she just started accusing me of all these things and we got into a massive argument,” I kept my gaze fixed on the bun and the little pile of seeds that I had been making.

“What was she accusing you of?”

“Cheating on her,” I looked up and met Jeanie’s gaze, “talking about her behind her back, not loving her,” I continued, dropping my gaze again.

“But none of that’s true, it’s so easy to see how much you love her,” Jeanie said, a hint of anger coming into her voice. “And how could she even think that you’d cheat on her, you wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone do anything like that.”

“Yes, thank you, Jeanie. I already know what I have and haven’t done, I don’t need to be reminded,” I snapped, before sighing and running my hands through my hair. In frustration, I grabbed the strands and pulled, but my hair was firmly stuck in my head, not that ripping it out would have solved anything.

“Sorry,” Jeanie mumbled and I immediately stopped her.

“You didn’t do anything, I shouldn’t take it out on you.” She nodded slightly, clearly having no idea what to say or do. 

I looked around at the other tables around us. Families, couples, friends, sitting around tables, laughing and enjoying their food. Then mine and Jeanie’s table, two lonely people who weren’t with the people they should be with.

Jeanie and Luke had a massive fight a couple of weeks ago. She had pointed out to him that a lot of the girls at school were still trying to get his attention, even though everyone knew that they were going out, and he had said that there was nothing he could do to stop them. Everything had escalated when she suggested that perhaps he stop winking at people and he had gone on the defence, saying that he wasn’t doing any harm, and she needn’t be so controlling. She had picked up her bag and walked out of the room, and they had barely spoken since. I should know, Grace and I had been the ones stuck in-between. With Luke’s past break-ups, we had made fun of the drama, but with this one we couldn’t. We liked Jeanie, she had joined our little group quickly, and fit into the gap.

The day after Grace and I broke up, I walked into the cafeteria and stood in the doorway, looking around. Grace had moved back to her corner, a book open in front of her, but it looked like she was just staring at the pages instead of reading it. Luke was sat in the middle, like usual, and waved me over, but I turned and walked the other way instead, to the table that Jeanie was sat at. Why sit with someone who would immediately try and set me up with someone else, who would say that it never would have worked out anyway in an attempt to console me, when I could sit with someone who understood instead? 

“Do you want to go somewhere? Do something?” Jeanie asked and I shrugged again, pushing around my little pile of seeds, the bun now devoid of them. “Come on, bring your burger,” she said, standing up and reaching across the table, picking up my food and packing it away in the little takeaway boxes it had come in.

“Where are we going?” I asked as Jeanie stacked the boxes and picked them up.

“I don’t know yet, just somewhere,” I followed her out of the restaurant and took the food from her so she could unlock her car. She was unlike Grace in every way. Grace’s car had been tidy, and she had always been ready to make a picnic from scratch. Jeanie? I had to push receipts off the passenger seat when I got in, and instead of little containers of fruit, we had boxes of fast food fries and burgers.

I sat quietly as Jeanie drove, staring out the window as her radio struggled to find a connection due to a faulty areal that she had known about for months but still hadn’t fixed. 

I looked around when the car rolled to a stop and Jeanie turned the engine off. 

“Where are we?” I opened the door and climbed out, bringing the food with me. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” She pointed towards the path leading from the car park, littered with leaves and branches, and overshadowed by tall trees. “We’re going to take a walk through the woods and we won’t be able to think about all the sad things in our lives because the birds are singing and the flowers are out and it’s not fair for us to give all our sadness to the happy things.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I told her and she shrugged.

“When does anything?” She reached for her boxes of food, and I let her take them because when they were stacked on top of mine they were at a high risk of sliding off and landing on the ground. 

I walked after her as she marched along the path, down a steep slope. I almost lost my footing at one point, my shoes skidding along the ground and causing the dried mud on the ground to rise up in a little cloud of dust.

“Don’t fall,” Jeanie said and I rolled my eyes.

“Wow, thanks, I won’t now that you’ve said that,” I said sarcastically and she threw me an equally sarcastic smile over her shoulder. 

“Come on, the food will be cold by the time we get there,” she picked up the pace and I struggled to keep up while feeling confident that I wouldn’t slip and roll down the entire hill, breaking every bone in my body.

“Where exactly is ‘there’?”

“You’ll see.”

I sighed and tried to keep up with her, breathing a sigh of relief when we reached the bottom of the hill, until I remembered that we would have to climb back up it to get to Jeanie’s car.

I followed Jeanie through a field of grass that was yellowing in the sun, feeling the rays starting to scald the top of my head, and over a small bridge, a small stream trickling under it. 

“We’re nearly there,” Jeanie stated, leading me off the trail and between the trees. Twigs snapped under my feet, as I blindly followed her, a faint sound of trickling in the distance. The sound only grew louder as we walked, and turned from a trickle to the sound of crashing water as I tried to dodge branches that Jeanie could just walk under. 

“Is there a river?” I asked and Jeanie turned to grin at me.

“There’s a waterfall,” she said, turning around again and speeding up.

“How have I never known about this place?” I asked and Jeanie shrugged.

“You spend too much time in that park, you probably never thought that there were any other bodies of water nearby.”

“Oh, of course,” I said, “I totally believed that the only place I could find water is in the park. You mean there is water in other places? Amazing,” I retorted and Jeanie snickered in front of me.

I was almost starting to believe the sound of the water was a recording and we would never actually find a river when the trees opened up into a clearing, the floor carpeted in old leaves centre pieced by a ring of rocks, presumably used as a barrier for campfires. A wide river was running directly across our path, and although it didn’t look too deep, I was sure if I wasn’t careful I would end up falling in. 

“Come on, come and look at the waterfall,” Jeanie turned and walked along the river, the water getting deeper as the sound of crashing water got louder. We reached a small pool, where a river higher up had met with a drop, and was falling directly down to join the pool. “Isn’t it pretty?” Jeanie asked and I nodded, dragging my eyes away from the splashes when I realised she wasn’t standing next to me anymore. 

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m sitting down,” I watched as she set her food down on the forest floor and sat next to it. “Are you going to join me?”

“On the ground? Isn’t there mud and insects?”

“It’s too hot for mud, and are you seriously scared of a few ants and flies?” She asked and I felt the words ‘are you a wuss’ coming on so I walked over to her.

“I’m not scared of ants, but I’m not welcoming any spiders to crawl up my back.” I said as I hesitantly sat down.

“See, it’s not so bad,” she said as she reached for her food.

“It’s not exactly comfortable,” I said but she had stopped listening. I looked up at the sunlight filtering through the leaves, creating patterns on the floor below, the birds sending messages back and forth as they flitted between branches. Grace would love it here. She would be walking in the river by now, or trying to climb up the rocks jutting out of the steep hill to stand at the top of the waterfall. 

“You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you?” Jeanie asked and I nodded absentmindedly as I imagined her laughter catching on the breeze as she looked down at the waterfall, disregarding my concerns about her falling.

“I don’t understand why she would think I would even look at another girl,” I mumbled, looking down at the ground and picking up a crispy brown leaf.

“I’m a girl,” Jeanie said, and I rolled my eyes as I started tearing the leaf to pieces.

“That’s different, you know what I mean,” I dropped the small pieces of leaf and picked up another one.

“I know,” Jeanie said quietly as she stared at the waterfall, eating her cold burger. “I know.” She repeated, putting the burger down as I turned to look at her, a frown coming to my face when I saw the look of realisation on hers. “I know!”

“What do you know?” I asked and she grinned up at me. 

“A couple of weeks ago, Luke told me that he had heard a rumour that someone had caught me and you kissing. By the way, I don’t appreciate the look of disgust,” she added and I tried to wipe the expression off my face. “Anyway, at the time, I didn’t think anything of it, things like that are usually mistakes or people trying to start some gossip, but Luke asked me if it was true and we got in our fight a couple of days later.”

“So?”

“Honestly, James, it’s a wonder Grace put up with you for so long. You’re so utterly clueless.”

“Just explain it, Jean!”

“Okay, okay. Whoever had been talking about it was clearly trying to start a rumour. Are you with me this far?” She asked, grinning, and I scowled at her. “They were clearly upset that Luke had a girlfriend–“

“How did you get to that conclusion?”

“Don’t interrupt me, James. Let me explain!” I held my hands up in surrender and gestured for her to continue. “Luke and I broke up days later and do you know who’s been hovering around him since?” I shook my head and she frowned. “Seriously? Do you pay no attention to what’s going on around you?”

“Jeanie!”

“Lucy has.”

“You mean the girl he broke up with about a year ago?”

“Yes! She’s been trying to get back with him for months–“

“How do you know this?”

“Because I pay attention. Anyway, she succeeded, obviously, with breaking me and him up, but her methods meant that she had to throw someone else under the bus. She went around telling people that me and you had been caught making out, which means that at some point, Grace must’ve heard that you had been kissing someone else and there was nothing to indicate that it wasn’t true.”

I closed my eyes and groaned. I felt like banging my head against a tree, but somehow I wasn’t sure it wasn’t going to help.

“I need to talk to her.” 

“Okay.” Jeanie stood up and brushed dirt and leaves off her shorts. “Let’s go then.”

And done!

I hope you enjoyed reading Bumblebee Pebbles. It's probably one of the most feel-good cutesy stories I've ever written. These characters were lucky enough to skip the trauma I normally hand out to my creations!

If you need to catch up on the previous chapters, you can do so HERE!

And if you have read all four chapters, thank you for humouring me and my writing, and I hope you enjoyed!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Bumblebee Pebbles – Chapter Three

Spring

“You two are so cute it’s disgusting,” Luke announced. We were sat in the park, at a bench by the pond and Grace had walked up to us, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek as she sat down. The bench wasn’t really meant for three people, so she had sat across my lap, not that I minded. The trees that had previously been bare were sprouting with green, the new type of green that meant life, not the duller kind of leaves that had been around for a year already. Around the pond, snowdrops were blooming, their delicate flowers dancing in the breeze, and the beginnings of daffodils were growing amongst them. 

Despite the weak sun, it was starting to get warmer. The three of us all had jumpers on, but it didn’t escape my notice that the jumper Grace was wearing was most certainly mine and I wondered when she had stolen it.

“Thanks, Luke, we appreciate the compliment,” Grace replied, pulling her hair over one shoulder. She started digging through her bag and pulling various pieces of food out, laying them out on her lap. Luke rolled his eyes.

“You’re answering as each other? We,” Luke rolled his eyes again and his gaze settled on a packet of crisps Grace had just pulled out of her bag.

“Keep your hands off, only I’m allowed to steal her food,” I warned him, earning myself a smack on the arm as Grace lunged for her crisps.

“You are not, they’re mine and I’m not sharing,” she leant down and put them back in her bag, which was resting on the floor, and I frowned.

“That’s not fair,” I started to complain, but she cut me off.

“If you wanted food, you should’ve brought your own,” she told me and I stuck my tongue out at her. Luke pretended to throw up.

“When’s whats-her-name getting here?” Grace asked Luke as she opened a plastic container of grapes, popping one in her mouth.

“Her name is Jeanie, and I don’t know,” Luke looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was approaching.

“And how long have you been going out with her?” 

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, though,” I said, “how long?” Luke glared at me, obviously trying to decide whether or not he wanted to answer.

“Four days,” he finally mumbled and Grace snickered, covering it up by putting another grape in her mouth when Luke turned his glare onto her. “I actually really like her, though, so don’t completely embarrass me,” he warned and I raised an eyebrow at him as Grace chewed another grape.

“You actually really like her? For real?” he nodded and I made a facial expression that said ‘wow’, not believing my ears.

“Then why are you on a double date with us at the park? You should be somewhere alone, talking to her and getting to know her, not forcing her to put up with us!” Grace told him and I turned to look at her.

“What do you mean ‘put up with us’?” she shrugged innocently and I narrowed my eyes. “We’re not annoying, not at all,” I told her and she nodded, pretending to agree with me. Narrowing my eyes even more, I held my hand out, palm up. “Give me a grape.” Grace looked down at her little pot, seemingly picking a grape for me. Whether she was looking for a nice one or the worst one she could find, I wasn’t sure.

When she finally picked one out, she bit into it, leaving the smallest bit possible to place in my hand, the juice making my palm sticky as I sat staring at her incredulously. 

“Why would you do that?” I asked and she giggled. Luke hit my arm as I put the tiny bit of grape in my mouth, trying to lick the juice off my palm, but only making it more sticky.

“She’s here, be cool,” he whispered, waving someone over, and I turned to look at Grace, expecting the mischievous look on her face as the cogs in her head turned at double speed.

“Be nice, no sarcastic jokes,” I told her, waggling my finger in her face.

“But I was going to ask if his STD is getting better,” she pouted, thankfully talking quietly so Jeanie couldn’t hear what she was saying as she approached. I bit the inside of my lip as I tried not to laugh at her face and Grace could tell, as she was doing the exact same thing. It always amused me how she laughed at her own jokes, usually more than anyone else laughed at them.

“Jeanie! How are you?” Luke asked and Grace and I both turned to look at her, to see who this person was and what it was about her that made Luke want to get to know her mind, not just her body. 

As if someone had mashed a bunch of keys on a keyboard, my brain crashed. The tall, skinny blonde I had been expecting was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a short girl with a smattering of freckles across her face and bright orange hair bouncing at her shoulders was walking over, every step bouncy and making her hair bob up and down.

“What?” Grace whispered in my ear and I blinked several times to make sure what I was seeing was real. “Look at Luke,” she whispered and I turned away from Jeanie to look at Luke. He might as well have been drooling. If I was obsessed with Grace when I met her, Luke was infatuated. 

“Hi!” Jeanie said as she reached us. She was wearing a dress, still very different from the old, stained jeans that Grace had on, but it fell past her knees. Not that Luke was paying much attention to what she was wearing. It was almost comical how he stared at her, a smile on his face, until I realised this is how I probably looked when I was obsessing over Grace. It was less amusing after that.

“Sorry, there’s not much room,” Luke said and Grace immediately grabbed her snacks from her lap and stood up.

“No worries, I wanted to go and see the flowers anyway,” she said, looking down at me expectantly. 

“Oh, yes, the flowers…” I stood up, picking up Grace’s bag from the floor, as her hands were full with the food she had scooped up in her arms. “We’ll go and… look at them, then…” Grace elbowed me and I shut my mouth.

“It was lovely to meet you, Jeanie, we’ll meet up with you both later?” Grace asked and Jeanie looked down at Luke, seemingly confused as to who we were, why we were acting so strangely and why we knew who she was.

“Sure, Grace,” Luke said as Jeanie sat down next to him, crossing her legs and reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. Grace flashed them both an award-winning smile and turned to walk away. I followed, looking over my shoulder as Luke shuffled a little closer to Jeanie on the seat. When I was sure Jeanie wasn’t looking, I sent Luke a thumbs up, which I’m certain he saw and simply ignored.

“The flowers?” I asked, “you wanted to look at the flowers?”

“I couldn’t think of anything!” Grace exclaimed, almost dropping one of her little pots.

“Do you want to put those back in the bag?” I asked and she nodded. The both of us stopped and I held open her bag as she let everything fall out of her arms and into it. Why she felt the need to put various fruits in separate little tubs would always confuse me. A pot of apple slices missed the bag and fell to the floor, which Grace leant down to pick up as I slung her bag over my shoulder. 

“Do you think it’ll last?” I asked, taking the pot from her and stuffing it in her bag, which was weighed down from all the useless stuff she kept in it. The fruit I could almost understand, at least it was food. Her purse and keys, yes. Tissues, pens, moisturiser, random pieces of jewellery, a cassette tape? No, I did not see the need for any of those things and, in case you were wondering, her car does not have a cassette player. She does not own a cassette player. The tape is blank.

“Jeanie and Luke?” Grace asked, glancing over her shoulder as our hands found each other. “Maybe, she’s so different from anyone else I’ve ever seen him with.” She started swinging our hands slightly as we walked past the pond and towards the path that led to another pond, a smaller one. 

The park was quiet as we walked, the occasional sound of chatter cropping up when we got closer to another couple or group of people walking. Grace’s bag kept slipping down my shoulder, which was honestly starting to ache from carrying it, but I didn’t want to give it back to her and admit defeat. How she carried it around all day was beyond me. 

The pond was bursting with greenery. While the larger one was open, with no plants, this one was teeming with reeds and grasses, a willow tree growing at the edge and an old wooden bridge lead straight over it. We walked onto the bridge, the sound of our footsteps changing from the crunching of the path to the louder, hollow sound of our shoes on the old wood. I was very tempted to try and shake the bridge because I knew it would annoy Grace, but I wasn’t sure it would actually move and I didn’t want to face the humiliation of being weaker than an old bridge.

“Oh, look at the ducks!” Grace pointed and I stopped walking, looking over the railing at the ducks gliding across the water. “Do I have anything they can eat?” she asked, reaching for her bag. I was glad for a moment, thinking she was going to take it from me, but she just opened it, leaving it on my shoulder as she rifled through it.

“I don’t know if ducks can eat mango, Grace,” I said as I watched her and she threw me a look that said ‘yes, thank you, I know’. “Why on earth did you chop up mango?” I took a closer look at the contents of her bag. “How long did you spend putting fruit into little tubs?” 

“About forty minutes,” she replied, giving up on her quest to try and find something to feed the birds. 

“Why? You could just have put an apple in your bag, why did you cut it?” 

“Because then we can share,” she said, entwining her fingers with mine again as she looked back out at the ducks. 

“I thought you weren’t sharing your food?” I asked as Grace got bored of watching the duck move one way, then turn and move the other way, walking away from the bridge, pulling me along gently by my hand.

“I’m not sharing my crisps. I said nothing about not sharing my apple,” she replied as I half run a step to catch up with her.

“Oh, I see how it is,” I grinned, “share the healthy food, but keep the nice things to yourself, huh?” She looked up at me, grinning and shaking her head.

“If you would try mango, you might like it.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? It looks gross, it’s slimy and horrible and it’s stringy,” I complained, fully aware of the fact that Grace was still smiling.

“One day you will try it and love it, and you will have no choice but to lie about your love for it because of how petty you are being right now,” she barely took a breath as she continued, “and you will have to eat your mangos in secret because otherwise everyone will know that you should’ve listened to us and tried a mango earlier instead of lying to us all about how gross they are.” 

“Are you done?”

“I will never be done, not until you eat some mango.”

“I’ll have blueberries,” I tried, but apparently blueberries are an inferior fruit to mango. Who knew? 

“Hey, Grace?” I stopped walking and she stopped as well, turning to look at me, a slight frown on her face.

“What?”

“Do you think Jeanie and Luke have kissed more than we have today?” I felt a grin tugging at the corner of my lips and Grace rolled her eyes, grinning.

“I think, maybe, we’d better rack up the number, just in case,” she replied, trying to keep a straight face and failing.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” my hands came up to cup her face, bringing her up and leaning over to meet her halfway, her lips grinning against mine and her bag sliding down my arm and settling in the crook of my elbow as I tangled my hand in her hair and sighed against her mouth.

And done!

Aren't they just so adorable? I love this chapter so much. It's just so cute!

One more chapter to go now, so make sure to check back in next week for the finale. If you need to catch up on the previous chapters, you can do so HERE!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

A Review – Hot Demon Bitches Near You by J. E. Erickson

Now, I've not written a book review for my blog in a long long while. So long, I actually had to scroll back to remember how I used to format my posts.

Life got in the way for a bit, but now I am beginning to find the time for reading again. Which in turn has reminded me how much I enjoy reading.

So, without further ado, this is the first review on my blog since May last year (about 9 months ago!)

A possessed phone app, bloodthirsty demons, and a drive for vengeance that reaches beyond the grave.

Libby and Whitney, teen friends with a shared secret, hatch a plot to avenge the violent death of their friend by killing DJ, the architect of her murder. Their plans crumble when the Guardians of Purity – a radical right-wing, neo-fascist, evangelical, white supremacist hate group – crashes the Autumn Ball, takes the high school hostage, and begins assaulting the students.

Salvation comes in the form of three mysterious demons sent from Hell to help Libby and Whitney save themselves, the students, and get their revenge… but at a price they might not be ready to pay.

Grab a copy!

My Review!

This is a book that has been sat on my kindle for a while. I am not sure whether I got myself a copy during a promotion, or whether I was just so intrigued by the cover and the title that I couldn't help myself. But, when looking through my kindle for my next read, it was very difficult to scroll past this one, especially with such a title! But even still, I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, until I came across the content warnings on the first couple of pages. And there were a lot of them!

Libby and Whitney have a dark secret, and a sinister plot. A fake hatred simmers between the two, a front put on for the world to see, as Whitney spends her time with her boyfriend, DJ. He is, of course, unaware that she can't stand him, and that the whole premise of their relationship is built on a lie and a plan. But when the Autumn Ball is brought to an abrupt end, and taken over by a radical hate group, DJ and his father among the intruders, the plans that Libby and Whitney have been concocting must change quickly if they want to make it out alive.

Enter the hot demon bitches. A mysterious, possessed, phone app puts in the order, and three demons arrive to fulfil it. But getting all the students out safely isn't the only requirement of the order. There is something else on Libby and Whitney's minds - revenge. And revenge is something the demons are perfectly capable of, and rather enjoy doing. And revenge comes in the form of bloodshed, gore, and teaching the intruders a lesson that will haunt them in the grave.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. The revenge exacted is done so with a psychotic and horrifying sense of calm and a thirst for violence. Although there is comedic value to some of the conversations, the level of violence and gore is immense. The mental images this novel plants in your mind are truly chilling, and at times, give you pause for thought - just how far is too far? For those who love gore and horror, this is certainly the book to choose. Bodies get mangled in a multitude of creative and imaginative ways, and the horror itself is graphic. A personal favourite scene when it comes to the comedic qualities of the novel includes the demons struggling to bypass a table saw's emergency cut-off, so it can be used as a weapon, the safety features that detect flesh acting against them in their attempts to use the saw on one of the intruders. Moments like this lighten the mood of the story, but it's still firmly a novel that will be enjoyed by those who enjoy dark humour and body horror. The author has not held back, and the careful depictions create a novel of the darkest possible nature. The descriptions of mutilation are morbidly fascinating, and despite the content and gore, you find yourself transfixed by the creativity and variation put into practice with the murders.

Despite the majority of this story being centred around the horrors of the revenge exacted by the three demons, helped by Libby and Whitney, there is also a clear narrative and backstory woven into the story, creating a well-rounded story with meaning behind it, rather than just blatant mutilation. Libby is an incredibly likeable character, and so much happens to her, it would be impossible not to feel a sense of protectiveness over her. Watching as a helpless bystander as the characters you like suffer abuse is heartbreaking. They do, at times, seem to get over things very easily though, with few mental side effects. Physical injuries are one thing, but the events of this novel are sure to haunt the characters. Although there is an element of emotional damage and fear, the full extent of the trauma almost appears to be glossed over in favour of bloodshed. 

There are a few typographical errors in this novel, which do unfortunately pull you out of the story. Occasionally, the perspective or scene switches without a clear break, and it can be difficult to keep up with what is happening. These are minimal though and, looking past them, they do not affect the quality of the story, although they can affect how easy this novel is to read. 

A dark and thrilling account of demons for hire, this novel is a morbidly fascinating account of physical mutilation and a deep desire for revenge, exacted in a timely and bloody fashion. This novel isn't overly long, so once it has drawn you in, you're transfixed throughout. I read the whole thing in an evening, it is easy to find yourself transfixed by the intricate disembowelling that is so carefully depicted! For those who are after a captivatingly dark and thrillingly gruesome quick read, this is certainly the one to go for.

And done!

I know I have said it before, and I didn't exactly stick to it last time, but I am actually going to try and maintain consistent posting for at least a while! I miss chatting away on here!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Bumblebee Pebbles – Chapter Two

Winter

“She smacked him across the face and everything,” Grace relayed to me. I hadn’t personally been present at the Luke/Piper break up, but Grace’s retelling of it was sufficient enough. We seemed to share the immense joy in laughing at Luke’s failed relationships, only due to the fact that usually we were on the girl’s side of things. 

We were walking through the park after school, our bags abandoned in Grace’s car. The leaves had mostly fallen off the trees and the air bit at the tips of my fingers and the end of my nose. Grace didn’t seemed as bothered by the cold as I was, but that might have had something to do with the fact that she was wearing a jumper, a coat over the top, gloves and had a hat pulled over her hair, which was loose over her shoulders, bouncing slightly against her back as she walked. 

“What did he do?” I asked, tucking my hands further into my coat pockets, as if there was more warmth the further into the pockets they were. 

“Nothing, he just stood there looking shocked as she walked away, talking very loudly about how she had never loved him anyway,” she said, kicking at a pebble, which clattered along the path in front of us. When we caught up with it, she kicked it again, missing and scuffing her shoe. She stopped dead in her tracks and I stopped as well, a few steps ahead of her, watching as she kicked at the pebble again, determined to hit it. She did so on the third try, although she claimed that she second try didn’t count because the breeze had distracted her.

The pebble clattered along the path and Grace started walking again. I joined her, keeping my eyes on the pebble as we approached it again, stopping to let Grace kick it before we walked after it. 

“Do you ever wonder if you matured past the age of ten?” I asked and she turned to face me, a look of disbelief on her face as I grinned.

“I will pummel you with the rock,” she threatened as I grinned, a smile forcing its way onto her face, despite her attempts to purse her lips to hold it back. “The fact that you insulted me means that you didn’t either,” she said, walking forward and leaning over to pick up the pebble. I ran towards her, wrapping my arms around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides and she shrieked as I spun her around. 

“I dropped it!” She exclaimed and I gasped into her hair, which was very much in my face.

“Oh no, not the stone! Whatever will you pummel me with now?” I asked sarcastically and she giggled as I set her back down on the floor. 

“Oh, there it is,” she said and made to move forwards, but I tightened my hold on her.

“Why on earth would I let you get it?” I asked as she tried to wriggle her way out of my grasp.

“What about on Mars?” She asked and I frowned against her hair.

“What?”

“You said ‘why on earth’. Would you let me get it if we were on Mars?” she asked and I blinked in confusion.

“That doesn’t even make sense,” I said, realising too late that she was just trying to distract me. She had loosened my hold in my distraction and had pushed my arms further up her body, so they weren’t around her middle anymore, but around her shoulders instead. Before I could even think, she had ducked out, under my arms, and lunged for the pebble. 

Deciding it was stupid at this point to try and stop her, I turned and ran instead, leaving the path and sprinting across the grass, my footsteps crunching on the frozen grass, knowing, from experience, that she couldn’t catch up to me. 

“James! That’s not fair!” she yelled, her footsteps behind me slowing to a stop. 

“Why not?” I stopped and turned to yell back.

She stuck her tongue out at me in response, sitting down on the floor and folding her arms. I started walking back towards her, stopping just out of her reach. 

“Show me your hands,” I said and she shook her head, keeping her arms folded, a grin trying to force its way onto her face. “Do you actually still have the stone?” I asked in disbelief and the smile broke out on her face as she unfolded her arms and held out her hand, the pebble resting in her palm.

“It’s so smooth!” She told me, holding it between her hands and examining it. “I’m going to paint it to look like a bee and call it Jerome,” she told me, her expression turning serious, and I frowned through my laughter.

“Why Jerome?”

“Because it’s a funny name,” she looked up at me. “It’s not a silly thing to do, is it?” I raised an eyebrow at her sudden self-consciousness.

“It’s only silly if you don’t let me nickname it Jerry,” I told her and she gasped.

“Jerome is a he, James, don’t call him an it!” she exclaimed and I laughed as she held out a hand for me to pull her to her feet, tucking Jerome into her pocket. I took her hand and she did absolutely nothing to help me pull her up, hanging like a dead weight on the end of my arm.

“Grace, I’m not pulling you up if you’re going to do that,” I told her, trying to free my hand, but she was holding on with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Fine by me,” she grabbed my hand with both of hers and tugged, trying to pull me to the floor. Unfortunately for her, I had predicted this attack and had rooted my feet into the floor. “That’s not fair, you used to fall,” she complained, letting go and crossing her arms again. 

“But I have since learnt your ways and refuse to be embarrassed so easily anymore,” I told her, holding out my hand to her. “Come on, help me find my own Jerome to paint,” she grinned, taking me hand and actually standing up this time, complaining about how the grass had made her jeans wet.

“You’re not calling him Jerome,” she said as we walked back towards the path, neither of us letting go of the other’s hand.

“I wasn’t going to,” I told her, “mine is going to be called Layla.”

“Layla the bee?” she asked. “That name doesn’t really roll off the tongue.”

“Oh, and Jerome the bee does?” I asked sarcastically and she leant into me, trying to knock me off balance for laughing at her. “Besides, mine isn’t going to be a bee, it’s going to be a ladybird.” I continued after we had walked on a bit.

“Layla the ladybird?” she asked, looking up at me.

“Hey, keep looking!” I exclaimed, gesturing to the floor. “We might have just walked past the perfect pebble!” 

“Well you weren’t looking either!” She pointed out and I shrugged, realising that there was an elderly woman looking at us from a bench by the path. 

“Could you be quiet, people are looking at us,” I told her, my voice dropping in volume after I had realised we were being watched. 

“WHO DID YOU SAY WAS LOOKING AT US?” She yelled, looking around as she grinned, and I cringed inwardly as I dragged her away. 

“Why are you like this?” I asked as I took her further away from the path and away from human civilisation.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she grinned innocently, batting her eyelids at me. “I’ve never done anything remotely annoying in my life.”

“Sure, go and find me a rock to paint,” I told her and she grinned before running towards the park’s pond. I walked after her, watching as she reached the pond and her eyes dropped to the floor, circumnavigating the pond with her head bowed. I stopped by one of the benches near the pond, leaning down and resting my arms on it as I watched Grace do a second lap of the pond, in case she missed something, occasionally bending over to pick something up. 

“I have a selection,” she said as she approached, holding out her hands to show that they were both packed with pebbles, some marginally cleaner than others. She sat on the bench and dropped them all on the floor, leaning over as she arranged them in some sort of order that only made sense to her. I sat down next to her, watching in amusement as she counted them and picked out half of them, putting them in her pockets. “Those ones are for you,” she gestured to the ones she had left on the floor. 

“Wow, thanks,” I leant over to pick them up. “Why, exactly, did you pick up the cleanest ones and leave the very dirtiest for me?” I asked, looking down at the rocks in my hands,

“Because I collected them, so I get first pick,” she stated, pulling one of them out of her pocket. “I still feel more connected to Jerome than the others, though.”

“You do realise it’s a rock, right?”

“Don’t talk like that! He can hear you!” she shoved me and I reached up and pulled her hat off her head, dropping my rocks into it. “James! Those are dirty!”

“I know, that’s why I don’t want to hold them,” I told her, grinning, but also feeling a little regretful at the same time.

“You’re going to pay for that!” she grabbed my arm and stood up, trying to pull me off the bench, but when that didn’t work, she opted to stand on the bench and then to walk onto my legs.

“Grace, your shoes!” I glared up at her as she stepped back off me, using my head for support, leaving muddy footprints on my jeans. 

“Now we’re even,” she said and jumped off the bench. She turned and looked at it, looking at the mud she had tracked over, not only me, but also her seat.

“Where are you planning on sitting now?” I asked and she stuck her tongue out, walking over to me and perching on the arm of the bench, next to me. The opportunity was too perfect – I grabbed her arm and pulled her across my lap.

“James! I don’t want mud in my hair!” she exclaimed, pushing herself up so she was sat across my lap, glaring at me. Our noses were so close, if either of us moved forwards they would be touching. The glare slipped off her face and her eyes flicked down to my lips, her breath warm against my frozen face. I leaned forward, my eyes slipping closed as our lips touched, my hand coming up to hold her cup the back of her neck, her hair tangling around my hand as a single word came into my head.

Finally.

And done!

There are only four chapters in this short story, so this is technically the half-way point... keep an eye out for chapter three next week!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Bumblebee Pebbles – Chapter One

Autumn

“For God’s sake, James, just go and talk to her,” I shushed Luke quickly, all too aware of his loud voice attracting attention around our table in the cafeteria. 

“Could you please just shut up?” I asked, picking my phone up off the table and turning it on, clicking absentmindedly through the apps, just for something to do.

“If you don’t, then I will,” I looked up at Luke, pushing my dark hair out of my eyes. 

“You wouldn’t dare,” I narrowed my eyes at him and he sighed.

“Look around, James,” he gestured to the room, “we’re the popular kids. There are at least ten girls in this room with a crush on you,” he made a point of catching the eye of a girl across the room and winking at her. She blushed and turned to her friends to tell them, all of them simultaneously turning to look at Luke, but he had already moved on. “First off, what does she have that they don’t?” I looked over at her. “She wears jeans and t-shirts. Look at that girl,” I turned to look in the direction he was nodding. The girl was tall, skinny, blonde. Her skirt was so short it barely covered her and she was wearing a top that intentionally highlighted her breasts. She was, in everything she had done to look as such, exactly Luke’s type. 

“She must be freezing,” I stated, knowing that it would annoy Luke.

“Seriously?” he asked and I shrugged. “Fine, secondly, she spends all her time alone with a book. Doesn’t that just scream to you that she’s a nerd who’s never had a boyfriend?” I frowned, looking over as she tucked her long, curly and messy hair behind her ear before turning the page, the light making her dark brown hair look lighter. Why were those two things a problem? She was smart, I knew because she was in my maths class and she could actually answer a question when asked, unlike me who only pretended I knew what was going on half the time. As for the boyfriend thing, who cared if she’d had a boyfriend before? It didn’t affect me either way, as long as she didn’t have one now and would accept me as one. 

Luke could tell his persuasion wasn’t working. He had been trying to set me up with different girls for the past two weeks, inviting them to sit with us at lunch and then conveniently having to leave for one reason or another. It was starting to get annoying, having to make polite conversation while trying not to make it too obvious that I was curious how they weren’t covered in goose bumps. It wasn’t cold out, but it was cold enough that I wasn’t comfortable without a jumper or jacket on. 

I watched in confusion as Luke stood up, running his hand through his hair. 

“Wish me luck,” he said, walking across the room before I could stop him. I sat and watched in horror as he walked up to her, sliding into the seat opposite her, and rested his elbow on the table, his face on his hand. She looked up from her book, her eyebrow raising. The bustle of the cafeteria meant that I couldn’t hear what they were saying, or more specifically what Luke was saying as she listened, but it wasn’t just my eyes that were on the pair of them. Luke wasn’t joking when he said that we were the popular kids. Well, he was at least half right. He was popular and so, by association, so was I. In particular, a girl sitting near me was staring, a girl who was staring at them so intensely that I was surprised Luke didn’t spontaneously implode. I knew who she was, her name was Lucy, she was currently the most popular girl in school because Luke had been ‘going out’ with her for a week. Ignoring her and the death glare she was directing at the back of Luke’s head, I looked back towards Luke to see how his ‘conversation’ was going. The raised eyebrow had turned to a look that seemed slightly confused and amused at the same time. Luke gestured towards me and I ducked my head, wishing that I hadn’t cut my hair last week and that it was still long enough to cover my eyes. When I glanced up again, she was looking directly at me, leaning back in her chair, glancing back towards Luke as he kept talking. I returned her gaze, wondering why exactly she was looking at me. Had Luke said something good or bad about me? With him, you could never be exactly sure what he would say. 

I watched as Luke stood up, I’m sure he winked at her before doing so, and started walking back towards me. She picked up her book from the table, grinning slightly as she turned a page. Luke threw himself into the chair across from me, beaming as he did so. 

“What did you say?” I asked, still fully aware of Lucy’s gaze on Luke. 

“Nothing,” his smile widened, “why don’t you go and talk to her?” I narrowed my eyes at him, grabbing my backpack and standing up, slinging it over my shoulder as I sent him a glare, silently warning him against interfering with my love life ever again, before I made my way over to her table. She looked up as I approached, glancing back down at her page before turning the book face down on the table to save her place. 

“I just want to apologise for him,” I told her and she made a face as if she was trying not to laugh, “and find out exactly what he said so I know if I have to defend myself or agree with him.” She laughed a little at that, leaning forward on the table, resting her elbow on it like Luke had done, but her hand rested itself in her hand rather than on her chin.

“Are you going to sit down?” she asked and I nodded, immediately flustered. Why hadn’t I sat down before? I let my bag slip down my arm and fall to the floor, trying to be cool like Luke had been when he walked over and sat down, but failing miserably as my leg got caught on the side of the table and I accidentally kicked her when I got my leg free. Damn long, clumsy limbs. I immediately started to apologise, but she shrugged them off. “You don’t have to apologise unless you did it intentionally and then regretted your actions,” she narrowed her eyes and stared at me. “You didn’t do it intentionally, did you?” I shook my head, wondering if she was being serious or not. “Of course not, I don’t know why I said that,” she sat back, pulled her hair over one of her shoulders and started twirling her fingers around the end of it. Was she as nervous as I was? The whole conversation suddenly felt very awkward.

“So, um…” I tried desperately to find a train of thought to board, but unfortunately, due to a storm, all trains were delayed and the platforms were packed with late businessmen who could do nothing but complain.

“I’m Grace,” she said suddenly, still playing with her hair, “just… so you know.”

“Oh, yeah. James,” I replied and very nearly held out my hand for her to shake before I realised that I wasn’t an upper class gentleman in the 1900s, so I didn’t need to do that. 

“You don’t need to worry about what your friend said,” she piped up, looking across the room. I turned in my seat to look towards Luke as well. He wasn’t being very subtle about watching us, even going as far as winking at Grace. “She doesn’t look too happy,” Grace said, and I looked at her to see a frown on her face. Trying to follow her gaze, I turned in my seat again and found myself staring at Lucy, whose death glare was more prominent from this side of the cafeteria. 

“She’s mad that Luke was talking to you,” I explained, turning to face Grace again. 

“How come?” She asked, picking up her book. I thought for a moment that I was boring her and that she was going to start reading, but she folded over the corner of the page and closed the book, putting it in the bag on the seat next to her. 

“He’s going out with her. Personally, I don’t think it’s going to last much longer,” I said as she pulled out a bag of crisps from her bag.

“Why not?” She asked, opening the bag and holding it out to me, offering one to me. I shook my head and she shrugged, popping one in her mouth.

“Because as far as he’s aware, they’re not actually dating,” I told her, glancing down at the crisps and wishing that I had taken one. She seemed to pick up on this and offered the bag to me again.

“Would you just take one already?” she exclaimed when I hesitated and I reached out, taking one. 

Grace seemed fully invested in the drama of Luke and Lucy and kept looking over at Lucy and started commentating to me what her facial expressions were doing so I wouldn’t have to keep turning around in my chair. “She looked like she just ate a lemon, except it was covered in popping candy and she’s allergic to citrus fruit,” I laughed, which made Grace smile. She seemed to enjoy making people laugh, or rather she enjoyed it when people found her jokes funny, which was an endearing quality. 

“What about Luke?” I asked and her gaze shifted.

“He’s not paying her any attention at all,” she told me, “they’re not even sat at the same table.” A grin twitched at the sides of her mouth and she plastered an overly wide smile on her face and held up two thumbs up. She started laughing to herself, looking back towards me. “He send me a thumbs up,” she explained and I raised an eyebrow, letting her know that she hadn’t explained enough. “I wanted to let him know how it feels,” she started giggling to herself again. “He blushed and looked away,” she finished and I found myself grinning. She was pretty, sure, that was what had caught my attention initially. But she was also conniving, entertaining – she knew how to make someone laugh and seemed to get very offended when I didn’t realise she was making a joke or if I didn’t laugh at the joke. 

I glanced over at Luke, wondering exactly what he had said to her and why she hadn’t mentioned it.

And done!

I wrote this ages ago, but I just know I'm never going to get around to releasing it, so I might as well share it here!

Plus, it gives you a little taste of what my writing is like. If you like it, I do have some published short stories... check them out?!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Life Update 3.0

It has been quite a while since my last 'life update'. Usually I only post one if something major has happened, or if I've been away from blogging for a bit and feel like it's necessary to give an update before getting back into the routine of posting.

In my last life update (which you can read HERE), I was running a pub and had next to no spare time to do anything I wanted to.

Things have changed quite drastically.

I am no longer running a pub. I'm not actually even working in one, or living there anymore. In September, I also put aside my status of being single, and started a relationship with a man who has been my best friend for over a year. A lot happened all at once around about the same time. I wasn't happy working at the pub anymore, as I had no free time whatsoever, and my days were becoming monotonous and trying. Every day was the same, and there wasn't a day 'off' - when you live where you work, you can never quite get a full day to yourself without getting involved in some kind of work-related activity. So I passed on the baton, and started looking for somewhere to live.

My boyfriend and I moved into a rented house in October. It was a quick change, but it has worked out well. From working and living in the pub, to suddenly having a boyfriend and moving out - I think it was quite a lot for the people in my life to get used to! The house itself is fine, but there are three flights of stairs outside before you get to the front door, and it's a nightmare when it's raining, or if we go shopping - trying to get groceries up those stairs is a feat in itself. Heaven forbid if we go shopping when it's raining...!

Which brings us to job changes. I applied for a couple of places locally, all very different positions to what I had done previously. Social media work, and running a pub - those skills don't necessarily lend themselves well to other jobs, nonetheless towards any of the jobs that were available in my local area! It was quite disheartening to begin with, waiting for companies to get back to me before eventually deciding they weren't interested. I got myself hyped up for an interview as a spa manager in a fancy hotel, but clearly I didn't fit the role - no makeup, nails not done, and I was wearing smart trousers rather than a skirt? It seems almost wrong to believe that it was nothing to do with my experience or capabilities that led to the message saying I would not be moving onto the next round of interviews, but having seen some of the other girls working there, it was clear I was never going to fit in, and the woman interviewing me could clearly see that.

An interview that did move forwards into an offer, though, was as an optical assistant in the opticians I went to as a child. The first few days were rocky, as getting used to a new job was something I hadn't had to deal with for years, and even then, I had always worked for myself, or with family. This was an entirely new venture, setting out on my own, and finding my own path in the world. Eventually, I settled in, and now I'm getting on really well. I enjoy my job, which is something not everyone can say, and I'm glad I can. I sort diaries, answer phones, organise the shop, talk to customers, and sell glasses. It is much more in-depth than it sounds, but it's not necessarily the most interesting to read about. Something that hasn't changed though - I now do the social media for the opticians, so my skills are certainly being put to use!

Which brings us up to current day. Almost...

In early January, my boyfriend and I began toying with the possibility of buying a house. Not that we don't like the one we are renting, but it isn't ours, the stairs are an absolute nightmare, and we might as well be putting the money we are spending on rent towards a mortgage instead. So, we put an offer on one, and it was accepted. Within the next couple of months, once all the complexities involved in buying a house are sorted, we will be moving into a house that will be officially 'ours'. I'll be able to walk to work instead of having to drive. We will be only a couple of minutes' walk from the town centre, but still out the way enough to see fields from our house, and not have to deal with town centre traffic. The house is situated perfectly, is gorgeous inside, and neither of us can wait to move (although neither of us are particularly looking forward to moving all of our stuff back down the steps outside our rental!)

And that brings us back up to date. In the last couple of months, things with my life have changed dramatically, but everything is changing for the better. Plus, I have more time now for reading and blogging! Hence, I'm back! So keep an eye out for more regular uploads!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

The Saga of The Wicker Man (AKA my car)

This is, in it's entirety, the story of my car. There is no hidden metaphors anywhere, it is not an actual story or anything. Last year, I bought a car. This year it died a terrible death.

This is the story of this car's life, while under my care.

And no, I was not the cause of it's death. It died of it's own accord.

I will start this off by pointing out that I don't actually know much about mechanics. I only know the names of all these things, and what they do, because it has gone wrong and I've had to fix it (get someone else to fix it, that is).

Getting The Car

I used to have a 2006 BMW X3. I loved that car, but it didn't really love me back. Or at least, if it did, it showed it's affection in mechanic's bills. I spent just over £500 getting it through it's MOT, and then it developed an issue that would have cost several thousand to fix. So it was forced to get me through until I could get another car, and then laid to rest in the scrap yard in the sky.

The car I replaced it with was a 2011 Mitsubishi ASX. It looked pretty much identical to my BMW, which is one of the reasons I went for it. Facebook Marketplace, listed for £950. I took my dad, drove to go and see it, and he managed to get the guy to knock £100 off the price because the exhaust wasn't really actually attached to the car. In fact, it was completely rusted through, and wasn't doing anything other than dangling there.

So I had a new car, at the end of June 2024, for £850 (plus the cost of getting a new exhaust). Fun story, before I fitted the new exhaust, and was driving round for a few weeks with only half of one, if I had the back seats down I would have to have the windows open, because it pumped the exhaust fumes into the car and it would give me a terrible headache. 

The Wicker Man

The first major issues of this car presented themselves in August 2024, when I drove my brother and best friend to Alton Towers, a full 3 hours away. The drive there was fine, other than the engine warning light coming on while on the motorway. I've always kind of run on the basis that an orange engine warning light is telling you to watch out, and a red engine warning light is telling you to stop. At this point, I was about half an hour away from Alton Towers, so there was no point in turning around.

It was on the way back that the problems occurred. Turns out the engine warning light was there for a reason. Check DPF showed up too. Which basically means, your car is broken. I pulled out of Alton Towers' car park in limp mode. Managed to get to a really dodgy pub car park in the middle of nowhere, and finally managed to get the AA out to me. The man who showed up plugged his mechanic's computer into my car, and found more faults. Eventually he managed to 'trick' my car into thinking the DPF had been fixed, told me to take the car to a mechanic when I got home, and to blast out the exhaust on the motorway (lower gear, so high revs).

It drove fine for a further two hours or so. It went back into limp mode as I was overtaking a lorry, which I promptly was no longer overtaking, and slowly fell in behind it. Luckily, I was pretty much at a service station exit, so drifted straight in, and parked up. I left Alton Towers at 6pm. It was already 10:30pm at this point. The AA showed up again at 1am. They were apparently really busy, and couldn't get to us any sooner. I complained profusely. However, because they were so busy, the person they sent was actually a lorry repair person. His lorry computer would not talk to my car. I was told I would need to arrange recovery, and get the car towed the rest of the way home.

Recovery arrived at 4:30/5am. We got home at 6am. A full 12 hours after setting out on the 3 hour journey home.

The car went to the garage, had a new EGR valve solenoid (I don't know what this is, but apparently it was stopping the car from doing a DPF regen) fitted, and then the DPF issue was pretty much sorted.

When we went to Alton Towers, The Wicker Man ride was shut, as it was broken. Hence, my brother nicknamed my car The Wicker Man, and it has been known as such ever since.

Oil

The title is pretty self explanatory.

In October 2024 I had a orange light come up. Check Engine Oil Level. It didn't specifically state that the oil level was low, just that I needed to check it. And I did, and it was fine. But every time I turned my car on, the same warning came up. I eventually grew used to the beeping every time I turned the car on.

Until it was accompanied with a red Low Oil Pressure. This came with the same logic as before – Check Engine Oil Level was orange, and seemed to show no actual issues. Low Oil Pressure was red. Red is bad. I was parked up not long after this light first showed up, and I noticed oil under my car. So I checked it again, and it was dangerously low. So, I bought some oil, put it in, and the Low Oil Pressure light went away.

Until it came back again.

I took the car to my mechanic. We checked the oil level there, and it was pretty much empty. So he put some oil in. And we watched it all immediately drip out of the bottom of the car.

Turned out to be a leaking oil filter. In the grand scheme of things, quite an easy and cheap fix.

The Check Engine Oil Level light turned out to be a faulty sensor. It continued to pop up every time I turned the car on, even though the oil level was fine.

The Calm Before the Storm

After the Alton Towers and the oil incidents, the car was absolutely fine for about 8 months. The brakes were starting to get really quite squeaky, and I was certain they could probably do with replacing.

Turns out, all four wheels needed new pads and discs. The rear wheels also needed handbrake shoes.

So I bought the parts. Me, my Dad, and two of our friends planned on sorting the brakes, as we had all the stuff to do it, and I didn't want to pay to get someone else to do it when we could do it ourselves.

Everything went absolutely fine, other than the handbrake shoes. They were incredibly fiddly, and after doing the rear brakes, the handbrake wasn't necessarily doing much anymore. So back to the mechanic, with the simple request that he tighten the handbrake (and check the front calliper, as it seemed like it was seized).

Everything is NOT Okay

When my mechanic took the car for a quick test drive, to check the calliper, he messaged fairly quickly.

The turbo has gone. How have you been driving this?

Turns out, the turbo went pretty much as he pulled away, so although I dropped the car off absolutely 'fine', when it was driven away it was no longer fine. It made an almighty noise, and had very little power behind it.

As it turns out, replacing the turbo is very expensive.

On top of that, the oil level that had been fairly consistent since the oil leak? The oil level had risen, suggesting that diesel was getting into the oil. In case you were wondering, that is not good.

So the solution was to get a new car. I found a 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander that looked very good, and I do now have that car. But first, I had to get my car back from the mechanic, so I could park it up to let it retire (until the scrap prices rise, and then it can go and join my beloved BMW in the scrap yard in the sky).

Driving it home with a broken turbo was great fun. The journey home had a lot of hills as well. Plus, the smell of burning oil accompanied me the whole way back. To top it all off, halfway home, the Check DPF System warning came back up again, harkening back to the dreaded trip to Alton Towers.

Nevertheless, it made it home, and is now parked up, never to face the road again (unless it is on the back of a lorry on the way to the scrap yard).

RIP Mitsubishi ASX

It lasted just under a year. I bought it on 23rd June 2024. I parked it up for the last time on 13th June 2025.

And cost me probably more than I originally paid for it in repairs in the meantime.

My fingers are crossed that my new car will last me longer!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!

Mini Reviews for Short Stories – AKA I got carried away downloading short stories

I have a problem. You probably know this problem if you've read any of my posts before. If a book is free, I download it. It doesn't generally matter what genre it is, I just download it.

I recently found a wonderful thing, in that if you search books by categorisations, you can find a plethora of short stories to download for free. It's truly wonderful.

I don't know about you, but if there's not a lot of substance to a story, I tend to struggle to write much about it. So I decided to write some mini reviews and put them all together into one post – genius, right?! 

I did, however, start making this post in 2021, and didn't finish making it until now. The 'publish' button on blogger tells me that the last time I opened this draft was on May 8th 2021. So the first two reviews are just over four years old, and have yet to see the light of day. The second two are new!

I will, therefore, stop rambling and start reviewing!

The Bag
by Steve Saidby

The bag in my hand is heavy, its contents are a motley crew of assorted flotsam and jetsam, but how did this stuff and I come to meet each other?

Grab a copy!

My Review

You ever read a book and wonder when it's all going to start making sense? This is one of those types of books. I had an idea of where it was going, and it turns out I was right!

Jon can't remember what he did between waking up and finding himself in his house with a shopping bag filled with seemingly random items. The story continues to tell about how these items came to be, and how Jon came to have them in his possession.

The issue I had is not anything to do with the actual story, but according to Amazon, it is 11 pages long. The problem I had is the why and I'm not sure that 11 pages is long enough to properly explain the ins and outs of this story. That being said, without the in depth explanation my mind desperately wanted, I created my own instead, which made me enjoy the story more because I felt as if I were a part of it.

All in all, I'd give it a solid 3.5 stars.

Cat & Jemima J
by Jane Green

From number one Sunday Times bestselling author Jane Green comes an original short story, Cat and Jemima J, featuring Jemima, the main character from Green's beloved novel Jemima J, and Cat, the main character from her upcoming novel Summer Secrets.

When young journalist Cat meets JJ, a career-making opportunity for a story presents itself. Cat has the chance to shine - but at the expense of a new friendship, will she take it?

*Featuring the first chapter of Jane Green's brand new novel, Summer Secrets!*

Grab a copy!

My Review

While I know the exact definition of short story is just that, this one was much shorter than I expected it to be. Only half of this book is the actual story, the other half is the first chapter out of a different book. It is obvious (after looking into the author's other books) that this one is a draw in, a mini sequel to another book made to draw readers in to get them to buy the new book.

Cat is a journalist who is a little too nice – every time she gets a good story, it's because someone has let slip something they don't want publicised and, being the lovely person she is, Cat promises not to tell anyone or to include the details in her article.

When she meets a woman in a bar one night, a woman who had simply sat down at Cat's table to make sure no one took her bag while she went to the bathroom, Cat doesn't realise the extent to who she's sat down with or the implications it could have if she could get an interview with her...

Cat was a lovely character to read about. The writing was easy to follow and at no times did I feel at all lost in the story. I loved how she readily conversed with JJ, despite being strangers, and how her caring nature meant that they formed a quick, but brief, friendship. The story ended rather abruptly, but still, it was a good read.

If this had been a short story for the simple purpose of telling a story, with a proper start, middle, and ending, I would give it a 4 star, but the way this story was used, and the fact that it ended so quickly, without a proper conclusion, means that I am going to give this one a 3.5 rating.

Secret Summer
by Elizabeth Grey

Violet Archer can't believe her luck. Her gorgeous new boyfriend is whisking her off on a romantic sun-drenched getaway!

Well, not quite. There'll definitely be sun. But there'll also be a advertising shoot, a film crew, their eccentric best friend, Max, and one of the senior partners of their new ad agency. Oh, and of course, the teeny tiny issue that Violet's boyfriend is her best friend and soon-to-be boss, Ethan Fraser, and if anyone finds out they're together, he'll be fired.

In the Santorini sunshine, can Ethan and Violet pull off a successful shoot, keep their secret hidden, and still find time for a little bit of summer sizzle?

This is a Short Story in the Agency series. It is set between Just Friends (book 1) and It's Complicated (book 2).

Grab a copy!

My Review!

Violet and Ethan are basking in their new relationship, having gone from being best friends to being a couple just a month ago, but already feeling the deep adoration of love for each other. There is the slightest of problems though – Ethan is about to be promoted to be Violet’s boss, and he will be fired if it is found out that he is in a relationship with another employee of the company.

Travelling to a sunny getaway, Violet and Ethan work on a project rather than being able to enjoy the sun as a holiday, and keeping their relationship a secret starts to get harder. Especially with their best friend, Max, sniffing about.

I did really enjoy this story. It is light-hearted, yet there are several undertones of trauma. Not everything in this book is soaring off the high of newfound love, and there are some more difficult topics covered. Rational fears bubble to the surface, and Violet and Ethan begin to realise just how much they can lean on each other, and trust each other, in such a short amount of time. 

Max is an absolutely amazing character. He is like a Labrador, funny and sweet, and yet sometimes incredibly dumb. Even though Violet and Ethan take the spotlight of this story, Max is a very important addition, and he is guaranteed to become a quick favourite.

Violet and Ethan’s relationship seems natural to them, although hiding it becomes somewhat of a chore. They want nothing more than to be able to hold hands, and share a room, but they can’t let on that they are anything more than friends. At times, it causes some tension amongst the other characters around them, but the sexual tension is intensified ten-fold by their forced distance. There are some steamy scenes in this story, although they seem entirely well-placed considering the situation the couple find themselves in.

Overall, this is a well-rounded sweet and light-hearted story, with characters you will love. It does not feel like it is missing anything by being so short, although it is part of a series. It does not feel like this book was created to drag readers into the series, but rather as an additional insight into the characters, as a story that makes sense on it’s own. Having said that, it does make you want to read more about the characters, and spend more time with them.

Until Forever

by Mia Sanchez

One second, she was my best friend, and the next, I was madly in love with her.

She is nothing like me. I have demons in my head while she dances in colours. And perhaps for that reason, it was so simple to fall in love with her.

But my feelings were nothing but a secret. I kept them hidden for five years because I feared losing her. She fell in love with other people while I continued to hurt some more.

But one evening everything suddenly changed.

Will I ever be able to tell her about my feelings? Will she ever accept my love? Will we ever be able to find the forever we both craved so desperately?

Grab a copy!

My Review!

This story is one that skims the surface of narrative, while delving deep into emotions. The story is driven by feeling, and pushed forwards by hope, rejection, depression, and love.

This story was written in an interesting writing style. It almost reads like a diary, never truly explaining the past, but following the present, through deep feelings and fears. The leading perspective narrates the story as though it is a running commentary inside their own head, creating a deep sense of knowing the character. There are no boundaries separating the character from the reader, as the character's entirety is laid out to be read. It may have helped to know some more about the characters themselves, or if some scenes had more detail and went more in-depth about what was happening, rather than just the feelings of the main character, but as it was it did keep my attention while reading.

I particularly liked that the main character's gender is never specified. Throughout the entirety of reading, I pictured the narrator to be a woman, although reading some of the reviews on the book, several people have pictured a man while reading. The lack of gender specification makes this book a lot more open to reader interpretation, allowing the reader to make this story their own experience by filling in the blanks, and reading about the inner feelings and experiences of the main character, without the focus being on their day-to-day life.

There are some darker themes explored in this story, which readers should be aware of before reading. Alcoholism, mental health issues, anger issues, and suicide are all mentioned, but all are handled tactfully, and with care.

This was definitely an enjoyable story, and the writing style was unique. It is an intense reading experience, not a short and sweet romance for a quick read between longer books. It is a deeply emotional story, and will certainly have you feeling emotional as you read.

And done!

A post four (or just over) years in the making, and finally surfacing!

I do have several other posts in my drafts like this that need attention, so eventually I might get to those ones as well!

Anyway, that's all for now...

Bye!