Meraki Candles Anime Quarterly Unboxing- Yuri on Ice| CarenzaOnBooks

Today I am posting my slightly belated Meraki Candles Anime Quarterly Yuri on Ice unboxing. This was meant to go up next week, but I am very behind on my reading for reviews. I was super excited to receive this box, I bought it back in May when it was announced and it wasn't supposed to arrive till July, but it didn't come till the end of August, which I was a bit disappointed by. I paid £23.29 in total, which included £3.50 postage. The box itself should have been £21.99, but I got a 10% discount by using one of the reps codes, so it was £19.79. But, that aside, here is my unboxing of the Yuri on Ice box.

This is what the actual box looks like. I do like how it's quite small and could easily fit in a postbox.

So there were two candles in the box. One was Eros which smells of sweet orange and chili. It's a surprisingly nice combination and I wasn't expecting to like it. The other one was Agape which smells of bergamot, apple and vanilla. Again, this is a surprisingly nice combination and I also really like it.






 

So this is what the candles look like with the lids off. They are such beautiful colours and really go with the theme and meaning behind the candles.

The first item is this History Makers mirror by Meraki Designs, which is the design side of Meraki Candles. I have to admit that I don't use mirrors that often and I have about 3 from subscription boxes that are gathering dust. So this item was not a hit with me, but the design is lovely.

This item is amazing and it's a letter from Victor to Yuri (I haven't posted the actual letter as I don't want to spoil anyone). This is from bookified. I love how this is such a unique item and I'll look into getting a different one from a different character.

This is the design on the spoiler card, I love that the whole gang is there and that Yuri is in the center (where he belongs).

A little extra was this character postcard, it is double sided, but silly me forgot to take a photo of the other side. But look at Victor and Yuri! They're so cute!

On the other side of this beautiful picture are some anime recommendations. They are for sport anime's and I have heard of Free!, but I've only been able to watch the dubbed version and I cannot stand dubbed Japanese films/tv.

This is the other little extra print, it's loads of information about figure skating.

The final item is this character notebook, I can't see who made it on the card though. It's a very cute, little notebook and it has lined paper inside.












So overall, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed about the contents and overall process of getting this box. It came really late and there was no warning about it coming late, which is really upsetting as a customer as you begin to worry that it's got lost in the post. The contents, while nice, was not worth what I paid for this box and I don't think I'm going to get much use out of the items. I don't think I'll be getting another one of these boxes, but I still love the candles and will continue to order big candles from them.
Carenza x

August 2017 Fairyloot Unboxing and Review| CarenzaOnBooks

I'm really sad that this is my last Fairyloot review for a while as I've had to cancel my subscription. But, that aside, this was one of my favourite boxes and it makes me so happy to see them grow as a company.

The theme for Augusts box was Other Worlds and this is probably my favourite design of theirs.

The first item was a exclusive Witchsoul candle from Book and Nook. I got Anais, which smelss of Coco, Cardamon and Fig. I'm not 100% sure if I like the scent, but I am happy that I finally got to try and Book and Nook candle.

The next item was this gorgeous exclusive sleep mask designed by Fairyloot themselves. It feels really nice on the skin and makes it easier to sleep, if like me, you can't sleep unless the room is pitch black. It matches the aesthetic the Oven Glove from last months box.

Then there was this exclusive Velaris Pendant made by Oh Panda Eyes. I'm not as big a fan of Sarah J Maas as I used to be, but I love this necklace. It has a vintage style to it and it is something I'm probably going to wear.

Probably my favourite item in the box was this Westeros Tea Strainer designed by Fairyloot. As someone who doesn't drink tea, this item isn't that useful to me. But as a lover of novelty items, this is great. You pull the hilt of the sword of and put your tea inside. My parents have already made claims on this as they are tea people.

Then there is this super cute Neverland notebook designed by TJ Lubrano. I've been following her for a while on Instagram and have been dying to try her products. While I love this notebook, I do wish that it had been lined rather than blank as I can't write in a straight line.

The next item are these exclusive Lord of the Rings magnetic bookmarks from Paperly & Co. There were three sets you could have received and I got Arwen and Aragorn. I would have preferred Frodo and Samwise, but these are super cute and I love adding magnetic bookmarks to my collection.

The final item is this exclusive Northern Lights print by Melissa Nettleship. I love prints that don't have quotes on and this really fits my aesthetic at the moment. It's giving me major wanderlust and makes me want to see the Northern Lights in person.

The book for August's book was Wicked Like A Wildfire by Lana Popovic. I've been dying to read this book and I'm hoping to get to it this month. Is the cover not stunning?

As always there is a signed book plate and letter from the author.

And here is my reading buddy hashtag for the month of August.

Another beautiful Fairyscoop that I'm going to read and enjoy.

I love that Fairyloot includes these matching bookmarks, I'm going to miss collecting them.

And finally, the promotional items for some up and coming books.













I'm sad that my subscription has come to an end, but I have loved every single box I have received. I can't wait to see what they include in their future boxes.
Carenza x

August Favourites 2017| CarenzaOnBooks

Another month has flown by and I have more things to add to my ever growing list of favourites. August was a very good month, but I may be biased as it is my birthday month. I always look forward to August because it's when my family have our summer holiday. I did a lot of amazing things this August and consequently, I have a lot of favourites.

Books

If you saw my monthly wrap up, then you'll know I am in the middle of my Harry Potter reread. I will always love these books and it made me exceptionally happy rereading them. Reviews will be coming your way soon once I have finished my reread.

Culture

August was a very good cultural month. I went to Edinburgh twice and I also went to London. My first trip to Edinburgh was to meet Cassandra Clare and Holly Black at their Edinburgh signing. I have wanted to meet Cassie for 4 years and I finally got to met her. I wrote a blog post about it and you can check it out here.

My other trip to Edinburgh was for the Fringe festival. This was my fourth year in a row attending. I saw some amazing theatre and some less amazing theatre. I'm hoping to go again next year for longer than a day and experience more of the festival.

I went to London over the Bank Holiday to see Andrew Scott play Hamlet. It was a part of my birthday celebrations. Andrew Scott's Hamlet was one of my favourite Hamlet's and I can't wait to watch it again when it airs on BBC 1 or 2 next year.

My final cultural favourite was my trip to the Harry Potter studios. I got to go round it properly (I went in January with my college) and see the new Forbidden Forest. I'm already planning my next trip, probably this next year. I'm thinking of making a blog post about tips and tricks for people planning on going to the Studio, would you guys be interested in it?

Bits'n'Bobs

My favourites in the Bits'n'Bobs category has been depleting these past few months, but my Bits'n'Bobs choice for August is Pop Funkos. I've really gotten back into collecting them and have added a few to my collection in the past month. I really want to collect all the Harry Potter ones, but it will take a while as most of the ones I don't have are American exclusives.

And that concludes my August favourites. I can't believe there are only 3 months left of 2017, where did the year go?
Carenza x

August Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

It's official, we only have a quarter of the year left. Where did the year go? And that means it's time for my monthly wrap up. In August, I read 6 books, which I am happy with. I did reread four books as a part of a reread I'm doing.

The first four books I read where books 2 to 5 in the Harry Potter series. I decided to start rereading the series in July and am currently over halfway through Half-Blood Prince. I am planning on reviewing the series once I've completed my reread and have them posted back to back in one week. Each time I reread this series, I fall a bit more in love. Order of the Phoenix is still my favourite, but Prisoner of Azkaban is still a close second. I did start reading these in the physical format, but I then switched to audiobook. Stephen Fry is the perfect narrator for this series and I could listen to him reading the Harry Potter series back to back.

The other two books I read where scripts. The first being Angels in America by Tony Kushner. I love this play with all my heart and I read this in a day. It made me so inspired to write and I want to go see it again. If you enjoy reading scripts, then you should check this out.

The other script I read was the script for Dear Evan Hansen. I listened to the soundtrack for DEH and it's now one of my go to musicals. It has such a powerful meaning and it was interesting reading the dialogue in between the songs.

And that concludes my August wrap-up. I'm hoping to reach my reading challenge goal by the end of the year and maybe go beyond it.
Carenza x

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody Spoiler-Free Review| CarenzaOnBooks

Title- Daughter of the Burning City
Author- Amanda Foody 
Series- N/A
Published- July 25th (USA) September 7th (UK)
Page Count- 377 (US Hardback)
Publishing House- Harlequin Teen/ Harper Collins
Rating- 4/5 Stars
Note- I was sent a eArc by the publishers, so thank you Harper Collins for sending me a copy!




Happy publication day to Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody! As I've already stated, I was sent a copy by the publishers, but I was also lucky enough to receive a physical copy from a Fairyloot box. As today is the publication day, this will be a spoiler-free review. I will post a spoiler filled review later in the year once more people have had the chance to read it.

I really enjoyed reading DOTBC, it was a really interesting concept and something I had never heard of. I'm not usually in to circus books, but I had wanted to read it even before I was sent a copy. I had been hearing nothing but good things. To me, this book reminds me of reading YA books when I was younger. It was a fun and easy book for me, and I really enjoyed the "who did it" aspect of the book. It's been a while since I read a book that had to make me think and didn't just hand me all the information straight up.

There was such a diverse range of characters in this book, and from a wannabe-writers perspective, this was heavenly to read. I loved how there were characters of different sexuality and there was no big deal made about it. With this search for diversity that the YA book community is currently undergoing, I feel like we need to shout about all the diversity there is in books. Yes, diversity is an issue, but we should be reading books because we want to, not because of these elements of the books.

I liked Sorrina as a character, but at times I did find her a bit whinny and YA-typical. She seemed to think that she knew best and everyone around her was wrong. She also became absorbed by her grief and that is a trope I'm getting tired of seeing. I want to see strong characters who can grieve, but also continue to live their lives. There were also a couple of her lines that I found a bit cheesy, going along the lines of "I will have revenge". These lines did make me giggle because they were a bit cringy.

Overall, I really enjoyed DOTBC and hope to read more from Amanda Foody in the future. At the moment, I believe this is a stand alone book, which is a very interesting choice for a fantasy author to make.
Carenza x

A Love Letter to Harry Potter| CarenzaOnBooks

At 11 O'clock today, the epilogue for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows becomes reality. Today is 19 years later. Today is a special day for Potterheads around the world. I've already made posts about how much Harry Potter means to me and while this post is in the same vein, my love for Harry Potter has increased since my last post.

The Boy Who Lived and the Wizarding World came into my life over 10 years ago. I can't deny that it hasn't played a huge part in my life. They were the books that got into reading and the books I aspire to write. These books took the world by storm and I was caught up in it. Reading them made me want to read more. They told me of a magical world I could escape to when the real world became scary. They're still the books I read when I need to escape from our crazy world.

In these books, I found people I wanted to be and people I wanted to know. I've spent half my life being told I sound and act like Hermione Granger, though I'm not sure how true that is, I'm nowhere near as academic as she is. I found characters I longed to know more about and characters I could spend hours talking about.

Most people I know have moved on from their Harry Potter phase, but I'm still very much there. I recently went to the Studios again for my birthday and have already been once this year. I'm about to finish my reread of the books and will probably watch the movies soon. Harry Potter introduced me to the world of fandoms and fandom communities. Because of Harry Potter, I have an excessive amount of Pop Funkos (and I plan to continue collecting). Plainly, Harry Potter continues to be there for me when I feel as though there is nothing else.

Harry Potter has had a huge impact on my life and will continue to. It's made me the person I am today. I may have spent more money than I should have on this fandom, but every piece of merch or memory never fails to make me happy. And as Dumbledore says "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home"

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