Meeting Cassandra Clare and Holly Black| CarenzaOnBooks

On August 19th 2017, I had the pleasure of meeting Cassandra Clare and Holly Black at their Edinburgh signing. I had seen that they were doing a UK tour and knew that I had to get tickets. I missed out on London tickets (which in hindsight I'm happy about as I would have had to stay in a hotel), so I got tickets to their Edinburgh event instead. My family lives a reasonable train journey away, so after a 5 and a quarter hour car journey home the previous day (arriving home at 12:30 am) it became real to me that I was going to meet them.

Cassandra Clare's books have had a huge impact on my life. Aside from Harry Potter, they are what got me into reading. I have been a loyal fan since 2013 and to finally met her four years later was a dream come true. I took Lord of Shadows (my tabbed copy), City of Bones (movie -tie in edition, this is how I discovered the books) and Clockwork Angel and purchased The Darkest Part of the Forest at the event.

We arrived in Edinburgh nice and early as there were some other things we wanted to do before the event. Walking around Edinburgh reminded me how much I love this city. It's somewhere I would love to live in the future. Exploring the city reminded me off a holiday I had their a few years ago where we just explored the city. Going to Edinburgh during the festival period is one of my favourite periods to visit. There is just so much to see and something for everyone.

We joined the queue for the event at after 3 o'clock, meaning we were nice and early. It was good we got their so early as there was already a impressive queue. We got good seats in the venue, four rows back and right in front of the panel. Asides from times where I thought the tent was literally going to blow away in Wizard of Oz fashion and Cassie's mic failing, the panel went off without a hitch. I had no idea it was going to be a Q+A style panel and really enjoyed listening to everyone's questions, and Cassie's and Holly's responses. Me being me, I didn't pluck up the courage to ask a question. I regret that in hindsight, but being in the same room as these amazing women was enough for me.

Then came the signing. Cassie signed one book and stamped two others, whereas Holly signed anything you had. It must have gotten very overwhelming in the tent as Holly began running up and down the line signing books. Thank God for post it notes as it meant I didn't have to try and spell my awkward name (which I love, but no one ever knows how to spell it). Holly and Cassie where both very complimentary of my name, which always makes me smile as there are days where I'm self-conscious of how unusual it is.

I think I had to wait for about a hour to meet Cassie, but the queue moved very quickly, which was surprising because of how many people there were. This is probably the biggest signing I've been to to date. As I had taken my tabbed copy of Lord of Shadows (review is still in the works, it's a beast of a review and I want it to be as near to perfect before I post it) I got lots of questions about the tabs on my way in.

Meeting Cassie was a dream come true. She took her time with each person and listened to everything they had to say. My mum and dad (who I am very thankful to for taking me there) took photos and I have an amazing photo of Cassie having a WTF moment over my tabs in Lord of Shadows. She asked me to explain them and I managed to in a mostly coherent way. There are a thousand things I wish I had said to her and hopefully I'll get to in the future. It made my heart sing when she took a genuine interest in my little blog.

We were given a exclusive UK Lord of Shadows poster and sampler of The Cruel Prince as we left and then we had to hurry off to the train station to go home.

Thank you to Holly and Cassie for making the day as special as it was. It's a day I will cherish for the rest of my life and I hope I get to meet both of you in the future. I am still in awe that I met you only a few days ago.

I'm going to finish this with a few of my favourite photos my parents took of me meeting Holly and Cassie.
 

July 2017 Fairyloot Unboxing and Review| CarenzaOnBooks

Two Fairyloot unboxings in one week? I couldn't wait any longer to share the contents of this amazing box. July is my second to last box from Fairyloot and it didn't disappoint. There will be spoilers from this point on, so continue with caution if you're still waiting for your box.

The theme for July was Tricksters and Fairyloot now have a new artist for their cards, Tartjah, who designed the Dorian/ Manon print in February's box. I love these graphic cards so much!

The first item was this exclusive Sherlock enamel tin mug designed by Fictiontea Designs. The name Fictiontea might be familiar as Lauren who runs Fictiontea is a rep for Fairyloot. I love this mug so much, it's beautiful and I finally have a tin mug. I love Sherlock so much and am happy to have some Sherlock merch.

The next item is this exclusive Loki Lotion from Geeky Clean. It smells of Dragon's Blood and is vegan. I love Geeky Clean's products and am happy to be adding to my collection.

Then there are these Officially Licensed Harry Potter Playing Cards. It just occured to me the other day that a lot of my Harry Potter collection is unofficial merchandise and it makes me happy to add something I would have picked up myself to my collection.

Instead of having the tradition clubs, aces, spades and diamonds, they have the Hogwarts houses!

This is something I have never seen a company  send out and it is a oven glove. It is a exclusive Fortune Telling Oven Glove designed by Fairyloot. It's so cool, though I am scared the gold will begin to fade, so it will be a while before I use it.

Something non-book themed is this exclusive print from Miss Phi based on Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad. I'm not a huge fan of the DC world, I'm much more invested in Marvel and didn't particularly enjoy Suicide Squad. This print fits the Harley Quinn Suicide Squad vibes nicely and I'm sure fans of the film will like it.

The final item before the book was this Six of Crows inspired bookmark from Lexy Olivia (not exclusive). I haven't read anything from Leigh Bardugo yet and the amount of times there have been Grisha or Six of Crows merch sent out, I think it's time I do.

The book of the month was Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody. I have to pick this one up asap as I've been sent it for review, so I'm grateful to have a physical copy to read for my review.

As always there is a letter and signed bookplate from the author, both of which I've stuck in my copy.

And finally, there is Fairyscoop and the reading buddy hashtag.













I loved this box so much and my favourite item has to be the mug. I'm looking forward to August's box and then it will be a while before unboxings return.
Carenza x








 

A Very Belated June 2017 Fairyloot Unboxing and Review| CarenzaOnBooks

Due to the fact that I took a break from blogging and social media last month, I never got around to posting my June Fairyloot unboxing. Because it's been so long and I'm sure no one will be waiting for this box, I don't feel that I need to put a spoiler warning on my unboxing.

Here is an overview of the June boxes content. It  had a very nice colour pallet and made me happy that everything went together.

The theme for Junes box was Elementalists and as always Fairyloot have these amazing graphic cards.

The first item was a candle from Witchwood Remedies. There were five Stormheart candles and they were based on the storms in the book. They're all exclusive to this months box.

I got Twister and I have to say that this is my least favourite candle I've received from Fairyloot. There's a pepper scent in and I really don't like pepper. If I can find someone who likes it, I'll give it to them, but it is very pretty with all the things sprinkled on it.

Next there was this Avatar: The Last Airbender lip balm from Geeky Clean. This is exclusive to Fairyloot. I got Water Bender, which I think smells of Vanilla. I am interested to see what the other elements smell like.

 Fairyloot hasn't included any jewelry for a while and in June we got this exclusive Hamsa Hand bracelet from In The Moment. I'm not the biggest jewelry person, so again this will probably be a item I give to someone.

Receiving bath products does make me happy and then I remember I don't have a bath at my dad's house and it will be months before I can properly use it. This Clairvoyance Soap was made exclusively by Ascent Bath and Body. It smells really nice and fresh.

These cute potion bottle sticky notes were made by Fairyloot and are exclusive to this box. They each have a different meaning. Purple is for health, blue is for magic and yellow is for stamina. I'm going to have to find a way of using these, probably in my school work to spice it up a bit.

The final item before the book is probably my favourite item and that is this Stephen King inspired exclusive pillow case from Miss Phi. It says "Books are a uniquely portable magic". I love the design and how it's not linked to a specific fandom. I need to get pillow fillers for my 3 bookish pillows and display them because they are beautiful.

The book was Roar by Cora Carmack. As always it came with a letter and a signed bookplate. I don't know much about it, but I am looking forward to reading it in the near future.

As always, Fairyloot included Fairyscoop, the matching bookmark and reading buddy service. In all truthfulness, I've given up trying to find mine each month as I never find them.

There was a promo postcard for Fireblood by Elly Blake, which comes out later this year.

I do love receiving samplers in subscription boxes and in this months box we received The Waking Lands by Callie Bates.












Overall, this was my least favourite Fairyloot box I've received and this month (August) is the last box I will recieve for a while as I'm stopping my subscription. I've had 11 boxes and the excitement has worn off. I still love Fairyloot and will continue to support it, but I need to save my pennies.
Carenza x

July Favourites 2017| CarenzaOnBooks

Now that we're safely in August, I can talk about all the things I loved in July. July flew by and it's hard to imagine that we're now in August. I have a favourite book, as well as some favourite cultural things that happened in July to share with you all.

Books

My favourite book of the month was Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I read this in one day, it's one of my top reads of 2017. If you are looking for some YA feminism, then this is the book for you. It's not out in the UK yet, but you can buy it from WH Smiths as it's part of the Zoella Book Club. I will be writing a review on it very soon and I need to find more people who've read it to fangirl with.

Culture

If you've been following my blog for a while, then you will know I fell in love with a play called Snow in Midsummer that was on at the RSC. Well, I may have found something I love even more. I saw Angels in America (performed at the National Theater, London, but via a NT Live broadcast to cinemas) and I am obsessed. It is a fantastic play, the production was beautiful and the actors in it are exceptionally talented. It's told in two parts and I saw it over two weeks. If it gets broadcast again, I will 100% go and see it again. I've ordered the script and need to get a programme and basically spend the rest of my life talking about how much I love this play.

Something else I did that was pretty cool in July was go to a practice race for Formula One when it came to the UK. It was a amazing experience and something I would do again. The atmosphere was tangible and every time Lewis Hamilton drove past the audience would clap.  

One of my most anticipated TV shows came back this July and I am very happy to be watching it live for the first time. I only recently (end of last year) joined the Game of Thrones fandom, and I'm here to stay. Every week it's exciting to see who lives and who dies (don't worry, this is a spoiler free zone). I can't wait to see how this ends and have to wait a whole year for more Thrones.

A TV show that deserves a honorable mention is Poldark. I love Poldark, I can't believe the final episode of this series is this Sunday. Yet another TV show I'll have to await the return of.

Bits'n'Bobs

I only have one bits'n'bobs favourite and that is that I got some new bedding. I know it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but I'm happy with it. It was from Asda and it's gray with cranes and cherry blossoms on it. I really like and will be looking for simple bedding like it in the future. 

So that concludes my July Favourites, I really enjoy writing these posts as it allows me to reflect back on the month.

Carenza x 

July Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

It's crazy to think we're now 3/4 of the way through the year! Where has 2017 gone? Before getting into this post, I want to apologies for my absence from social media since my last post. In all truthfulness, I didn't feel like posting. I felt that the amount I was posting was too much, so I decided to have a bit of a social detox and I am happy that I did it. I was feeling very stressed and down because I was putting so much pressure on myself to post frequently.

But enough of that, July was a decent reading month. I managed to read five books in July and I'm proud of that. I recently changed my Goodreads reading challenge from 75 to 60 books because I know I'm not going to get to read 75 books because I'm so busy. I read a wide range of books in July and loved almost all of them.

The first book I read was a audio book of Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. I got the audio book through the Overdrive app and listened to it over several days. I gave it 4/5 stars. It was really interesting reading a book set in World War Two that had real influences from the war. I'm yet to delve into the world of Historical Fiction and this was a nice introduction. I loved that it was told from four different perspectives and each character had their own narrator, making it easier to know which character you were listening. The only reason I docked a star was because the beginning was a bit slow and it took me a while to make the connections between the characters.

I then read Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I got a finished early copy from the Zoella Book Club in WH Smiths. I gave it 5/5 stars. I loved this book so much, so much so that I am contemplating giving it a higher rating on my 2017 favourites over Lord of Shadows. It was so nice to read a YA book about feminism and reading it made me feel so empowered. I am going to write a full review at some point soon, so keep an eye out for that. It isn't out in the UK till September, but you can get it in WH Smith before then.

Next I read a book for my local Waterstones book club and that was Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. I gave this 2/5 stars. In all truthfulness, I have absolutely no clue what happens in this book. I found it very hard to follow the narrative and the writing style made it impossible for me to understand who was speaking. It was interesting learning about the American Civil War, but apart from that, I did not enjoy this book.

I read The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury in one day. I gave it 4/5 stars as it was a super quick read and it was just a fun book. I don't think I've taken anything profound away from it and I've read similar books before, but it was nice reading a book so quickly that was just for fun. I'll pick up the next two books eventually, but for now I am happy that I've finally read The Sin Eater's Daughter.

The final book I read in July is a part of a reread I'm starting and that is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I have listened to the Harry Potter books on audio book (the Stephen Fry version) so many times, I could quote them in my sleep. But I can't remember the last time I picked them up in physical format. I read it in two days, I obviously gave it 5/5 stars. I actually finished it on July 31st. As this post goes up, I'm currently reading Goblet of Fire.

So that concludes my wrap up for July, I can already tell August is going to be a good reading month as I've already read two books. I still have loads of books I want to finish before I go back to college though.
Carenza x