May Fairyloot Review| It'sCarenzaB

Another month, another Fairyloot unboxing. Every month Fairyloot just keeps on upping the game and I'm so proud of how far they've come as a company. Every single box has been a delight to open and I can't wait to see how they grow. But, in May the theme was Warriors and Legends. I'm pretty sure as soon as Fairyloot announced this theme, everyone knew what the book was, but it was still exciting.

The first item in the box was this exclusive Warriors and Legends Tea from The Tea Leaf Company. I'm not the biggest fan of tea, but this one smells great so I may end up liking it. Unfortunately, I don't have a tea strainer at my Dad's house (where I spend most of my time) so I'll have to wait to go to my Mum's to drink this.

Fairyloot is the best at sending out candles and of the 8 boxes I've had, only 1 didn't have a candle in it. This is Mist made exclusively by In The Wick of Time and it smells of Warm Stone and Woodsmoke. I do like this scent, but having seen what the other candle smells of, I wish I had got that one.

There were two books in this months box, the first being World Mythology In Bite Sized Chunks by Mark Daniels. I love reading about mythology, so this book is perfect as you can dip in and out of it. 

For the first time ever, I received some socks in a subscription box. I have no idea why this makes me ridiculously excited. These were designed exclusively by Fairyloot and they are inspired by Celtic warriors and patterns.

My favourite item in the box was this wooden Lord of the Rings bookmark made exclusively by Ink and Wonder Designs. I have been drooling over their designs for ages and having a Lord of the Rings inspired one fills me with lots of excitement.

Probably my least favourite item in the box was this Metallic Feather Pen sent out by Flora's Wonder Emporium. I can see the appeal of it, but it is a bit tacky (but in a good way).

I have never received a chapter sampler before, so I am very excited to have this in my collection. It is for a book called Naondel, which is already out. I'm looking forward to reading it.

The book in May's box was Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh. I have heard mostly good things about this book and am really looking forward to reading as it is set in Japan.

Fairyloot has some of the best info/ spoiler card out there. I love pinning these up in my room. Since April, Fairyloot have started sending out matching bookmarks with the same design for subscribers to collect.

As always, there was a signed book plate, letter and there was a cool Flame in the Mist inspired bookmark.

I do love reading each month's Fairyscoop, though I do miss the back page being something from someone in the book community. My hashtag for May was #FairyLoot05858










And that concludes my review of May's box. It makes me so happy to see how Fairyloot keeps getting better each month and I'm very excited for this months box.
Love,
Carenza x

  

Pop Funko Wishlist 2017| It'sCarenzaB

In February 2016, I began collecting Pop Funkos (also known as pop vinyls or Funko Pops) and since then, my collection has reached double figures. And while I have a lot and I'm very grateful to have so many, there are more that I want to add to my collection. I just want to say that this list is me talking about which ones I want. I do not expect to get all of these. There are so many I want to add to my collection, but these are the ones I really want.

Harry Potter

While most of my collection is Harry Potter themed, there are some that I don't have because they are exclusive to American stores. I'd get them, but shipping is ridiculously expensive and I can't justify that much money on shipping on Pop Funkos.

As I own at least 5 Harry Pops, I'm not too sour about not having this one. It would be nice to add to my collection, but I won't lose any sleep over not having Harry in his hand-made Weasley jumper.

 While I'm not too fussed about owning Harry, I would love to have Ron in his Weasley jumper.

I would be over the moon if they brought this version of Bellatrix over to the UK as I love the detail of the Azkaban uniform.

Again, this is another one I wish we had in the UK as the detail on the mask.

 I've already said I have a lot of Harry's, but the little Hedwig on this one is just too cute not to want!

Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

Now, I'm not sure how many of these are still being made, but I would love to add these to my collection as I love watching the films and I'm determined to read the books this summer. 

I know there is a new line of LotR Pops coming out this summer and I have to admit, I do love them all. The Belrog is probably my favourite as it's so detailed, but Frodo and Sam are pretty cute.

The one I want the most from the Hobbit range is Smaug as he's amazing and who doesn't want a Dragon Pop Funko?

Here are some of the other characters in the Hobbit line. I would love to have Legolas as he's one of my favourite characters from the movie.

Game of Thrones

Having recently acquired my first Pop in this line, there are several more I would love to add to my collection. I think I might make a separate wishlist for the Game of Thrones Pops as there is so many.

Some of the first wave of GoT Pops

The newest wave 

I am dying to add this to my collection!

I love how cute these dragons are!

Sherlock

If you've been following me since January, then you will know that I love the BBC series Sherlock and I have been eyeing up the Pops in that line for a while. I got my friend one of them for her birthday two years ago and she loves it.

Look at little Sherlock's face! I would love to have a little Sherlock Pop in my collection!

Beauty and the Beast

With the new movie coming out on DVD, I would love to get my hands on the Pop Funkos from the live action movie. They're so beautiful and detailed, plus who doesn't want more Emma Watson in their life?

I also would love to add the original cartoon versions to my collection as the cartoon is my favourite Disney film.

Plus look how cute the Beast is and they have a Gaston!

Nightmare Before Christmas 

I would love to add these Day of the Dead editions of Sally and Jack as they are so beautiful.

Attack on Titan

With my recent descent into the amazing-ness of Anime, I would love to add the Attack on Titan Pops to my collection.

I would literally die if I could add Mikasa to my collection as she is impossible to get in the UK without being ridiculous expensive.

I am so excited that they are making a Levi Pop Funko as he is my favourite character in the series.

Sadly, Armin is a US exclusive, but one day I hope to add him to my collection.

I have no idea if I'll ever add this to my collection as I don't even know where you can buy him, but any excuse to have more Levi in my life is a good excuse.

And that concludes my very long Pop Funko Wishlist, no doubt in the future I will make another one of these as new Pop Funkos are being released all the time.

Love,

Carenza x 

Book Review Monday- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas(Contains Spoilers)| It'sCarenzaB

Title- A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author- Sarah J Maas
Series- A Court of Thorns and Roses
Published- May 2nd 2017
Page Count- 699
Publishing House- Bloomsbury
Rating- 4/5 Stars

About the Author 

Sarah J Maas is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, as well as a USA Today and international bestselling author. Sarah wrote the first incarnation of the Throne of Glass series when she was just sixteen, and has now sold in thirty- five languages. A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and dog. (Taken from Sarah's website)

Plot

A nightmare, I’d told Tamlin. I was the nightmare.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit—and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords—and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

Following A Court of Mist and Fury, I had very high hopes for this book and sadly my high hopes weren't met. I have been a fan of Sarah's since 2015 and managed to catch up with all her books very quickly. I can say that I prefer the ACOTAR series as I prefer trilogies, so when I knew that this part of the series was coming to an end, I was excited to see how Sarah wrapped it up. I know that a lot of fans of the ACOTAR series were either happy or let down by ACOWAR, but I fall somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed it, but it didn't compare to ACOMAF. I ended up giving it 4/5 stars, which is still a lot more than you would have thought. 

Trying to turn my opinions into something articulate with structure is going to be a challenge, so I'm settling for articulate rather than structure. One thing I loved about this book was how fast paced it was. I was sure that it was going to be a very long time before Feyre and Rhysand were reunited, but it happened after over a hundred pages. I think the pacing of the book was one of the reasons why it got higher than what I was initially planning on giving it. It hooked you in and was almost impossible to put it down. I haven't felt that way about a book in a very long time.

Something I had an issue with was the way Sarah handled Mor's sexuality. I know that several fans of the series have had issues with this part of her character. For someone as big as Sarah in the YA writing world, the lack of diversity in her books is shocking. But when she did included some diversity, it was (in my opinion) poor. Having a character who is gay suppress their sexuality for hundreds of years and lead someone on is just wrong. It was a chance for Sarah to have some great representation of diversity in her books and in my opinion, she just threw it away.

The character development from ACOTAR to ACOWAR is amazing. These books have been very character driven, which is something I am not usually a fan of, but in Sarah's books it is something I like. I think that this is what invested me in the story line when I picked it up last year. Characters such as Lucien, Cassian and Azriel are the ones I am the most invested in. I know that lot's of people are invested in Feyre and Rhysand's story, but I personally don't care for them. I found them quite irritating in this book and considering they were both narrators, that's not a good thing.

Like I mentioned, I wasn't invested in Feyre's story line as I found her annoying as a narrator. When you find the narrator annoying, it's never a good sign. I found her very whinny and self-centered in this book. All the things she did to Tamlin were cruel and even if Tamlin made many bad mistakes to get Feyre back, what Feyre did to Tamlin was equally as bad. Putting an entire group of people at risk because one person made a bad mistake is idiotic and selfish.

I'm very glad that the remaining books in this series won't focus on Feyre and Rhys as I'm done with their story. I am going to be continuing with this series, but I am looking forward to reading more about some of the other characters.
Love,
Carenza x    

April and May 2017 Favourites| It'sCarenzaB

For the first time in a while, I am doing a combined favourites post as due to exams I didn't have time to post one in May for April. But, it does mean that this post is going to be twice as long which is a good thing.

Books

My favourite book for April is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I had the pleasure of meeting Angie while I was reading this book and it added to my experience. If you are looking for some diverse reads, then this is a great book. 

Seeing as I only read one book in May, my favourite book in May was A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas. My review is coming very soon, so stay tuned for that.

Culture

April

I have two favourite plays, the first being Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at the Old Vic. It follows the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet and shows us their side of the story while interlocking with Hamlet (the play). The main reason I went and saw this was because it had Daniel Radcliffe in it. Even if it hadn't had Daniel in it, it was a phenomenal play and I would love to see it again in the future.  

My other play favourite is The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth. I have already seen Mojo by him, so it was exciting to see his new play. I believe it is still on at the Royal Court and if it isn't, I know it's transferring at some point into the West End. It has elements of comedy, but also has a message running through it which is something that happens in some of his other plays.

A film I was very excited to see was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. I had loved the first one and was so happy to see the second in the cinema. I will say that my favourite thing about this film is Baby Groot. I would happily sit and watch a two hour feature film of Baby Groot being very cute. It's been over a month since I saw it and I still can't decided if I love volume 1 or 2 more.

May

I spent the majority of May listening to the La La Land soundtrack. I adore the film, so listening to the soundtrack has been great while I wait to get the film on DVD. It's a very calming soundtrack, so listening to this while revising was nice.

If you saw my last favourites post, then you'll know that a play from the Royal Shakespeare Company made it on to the list and another one has this month. I went and saw Visa Versa, which is a new comedy set in Rome. If you can get to the RSC and see this, then you will have a great time. Even if I did sustain a very mild injury from one of the actors, I had a great time. (It was very mild, and more of a shock than an injury) 

Another great play I saw in May was The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar Warehouse. It was a great play and Lenny Henry played the title role. It was quite scary how the title character was very similar to several politicians, both alive and dead. 

Something I finally started watching in May was Anime. I have been a fan of Studio Ghibli since 2012, so it was time I dived headlong into the dark hole of Anime. I absolutely love it. I've been using an app called Crunchyroll to watch it. I've completed Yuri on Ice (review/discussion post coming this month) and have watched 15 episodes of Attack on Titan. If you are a fan of Avatar the Last Airbender, then you will love Anime.

Bits'n'Bobs

April

With the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, I loved having my Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 tsum tsums on display. At some point, I plan on getting the Vol 2 tsums as Baby Groot is adorable and needs protecting.










May
In May, I added four new Pop Funkos to my collection. Two Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (they're both Baby Groot), Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones in her outfit from season 1 and the Demiguise from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

With exams squashing me in May, I needed to find time to relax and when I wasn't revising, I was colouring as it was really calming and I actually quite enjoyed it. My mum bought me an amazing Sloth themed colouring book which I have been enjoying colouring.

So that concludes my rather long favourites post for April and May, hopefully in the future these posts won't be as long.
Love,
Carenza x  

May(ish) Wrap Up| It'sCarenzaB

I've officially had the worst reading month since January 2016 where I only read two books. For the last three years, May has become one of the most stressful and busy months in the year because of exams. And this year was no exception. I spent the entirety of May drowning in revision and so I only had time to read one book. Now that exams are over, I have more time to read and plan on catching up on all the books I want to read.

The only book I read was the final book in the main A Court of Thorns and Roses series. A Court of Wings and Ruin hit shelves on May 2nd and after much waiting and pain, I finally got my copy. I am going to be posting my full spoiler review very soon, so stay tuned for that. 

So that concludes my very very short May Wrap Up. I promise these posts will be longer in the future now I have more time to read.

Love,

Carenza x 

May GeekyClean Crate Review- By The Angel (Contains Spoilers)| It'sCarenzaB

As someone who is a regular subscriber to Fairyloot, I thought it was time to try a new subscription box. Following the March Fairyloot box, I discovered an amazing company called GeekyClean which has a monthly subscription box in which they send out five bath/candle items themed around a certain book or series. When I saw what the theme was for May, I knew I HAD to have it as it was By The Angel which is based on Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter Chronicles and if you follow me on Instagram, then you will know I am a massive fan of her books.

As you can see the box is quite small. Most subscription boxes are quite big, so having something quite small is unusual. They also have an amazing promo card for this months theme and next months theme (Game of Foams). All the information about the products is stuck to the top of the box rather than on a separate card.

The first item in the box was this High Warlock of Brooklyn candle. I'm assuming it's based of the TV series as it has the actor from the TV series. It smells of Red Grape, Wine and Musk. It's not one of my favourite scents in the box as I really don't like musk, but apart from that I'm happy to have a candle based of everyone's favourite High Warlock.

And true to the character, there is lots of glitter!

For the first time ever, I received some book inspired make up. If you have been following my blog since I started it, then you'll know that I started it as a beauty blog and so this made me laugh a little bit. It is inspired by Adamas and is this beautiful bronze-brown colour. Even though I don't wear a lot of make-up, I will probably wear this as it's a very nice colour and it's book inspired.

Something I was very excited by was this Parabati bath bomb. Firstly, I love baths so this was perfect. Secondly, the scent is really fresh which is the type of scents I like. It smells of Cucumber, Lemon and Patchouli which together makes a perfect scent for this time of year.

While I may not be a huge fan of perfumes, I do love this Lord of Shadows inspired roller ball perfume. It smells of Dragonsblood, which is quite an orange-y scent. I'm going to be wearing this when I finally start Lord of Shadows to fully amerce myself in the book.

The final item is my favourite item, but it was also the item I couldn't get a good quality image of. It is the green item in the left bottom hand corner of the image. It is a Team Will or Team Jem soap. If you saw my March Fairyloot unboxing, then you will know that there was a candle that was Lime and Cherry scented. This is exactly what it smells of. I love that scent and I am so happy that there are more items with this amazing scent.





So that concludes my review on May's GeekyClean Crate. For under £20 plus postage, you get a lot of things and good value for money. I plan on getting their crates again in the future as sometimes I don't get round to reading the books sent out in subscription boxes.
Love,
Carenza x

April Fairyloot Review| It'sCarenzaB

So now that my exams are (finally) over, I can focus more on blogging as I definitely neglected it more than I planned to. As May is almost over and I now have my May Fairyloot box, I figured I still needed to post my unboxing from April. I know that everyone has already posted theirs, but I still wanted to share mine as writing reviews are some of my favourite posts to write.

The first item was a ceramic mug designed exclusively by Risa Rodil. If you saw my January review, then you will recognize her name as she designed the Night Circus pillow case. I love having more bookish mugs to add to my collection, especially when the mug has my FAVOURITE quote from ACOMAF on it.  

The next item was this Bone Season inspired tote bag made exclusively by Miss Phi. As you guys know, I am not the biggest fan of the Bone Season, but I do like this bag as the typography and design is very pretty. I'll be getting some use out of this on my many trips to bookshops!

Fairyloot did something really cool and included a little gemstone notebook from Portico. There were twelve different gemstones and I got Septembers, and as my birthday is the very end of August, this was pretty close. If anyone does have the August gemstone and was born in September, I'd be happy to swap!

This is my absolute favourite item in the box! It is a little dream jar enamel pin designed exclusively by House of Wonderland. I've attached it to my lanyard that I have to wear and have been getting lots of complements for wearing it.

Fairyloot has been killing it with the candle game lately. In April's box, there was a candle inspired by Reverie made exclusively by Meraki Candles. It smells like a dream and I love it. Meraki Candles is probably my favourite candle company as they have so many different candles.

Through this box, I received my first bookish magnet. It was designed exclusively by Fairyloot. I really like the design and have stuck it on my fridge to add a bit of colour in the kitchen.

The book in April's box was Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis. I had never heard of the book or the author and am really looking forward to reading it.

As always, it came with a signed book plate, which I have yet to stick in my book.

My reading buddy hashtag for April. Once again, I didn't find my buddy.

Fairyloot is amazing at working with publishing houses and in this months box there were promotional items for Spindle Fire and Hunted, both of which I want to read.











So that concludes my review of Fairyloot's April box. As I said in the beginning of the post, I am now going to start posting regularly again now that my exams are over. I have a couple more unboxings for you guys this month.
Love,
Carenza x

April Wrap Up 2017| It'sCarenzaB

We are some how almost half way through the year and up until April, I was having a really good time with my reading. In March I read 10 books, but in April I only read 4 and 2 of these were rereads. As exams approach, I have no time to read and when I do have time to read, I'm too tired to  read. But, the books I did read in April I really enjoyed and I actually have reviews for all of them.

The first book I read in April was a reread and that was 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Seeing everyone talk about the TV series on Netflix (which I have not seen as I don't have Netflix) made me want to reread the book that I read when I was either 12 or 13. This book holds a very special place in my heart, which I go into more detail in my review. I still love this book and gave it 5/5 stars. I hope one day I can watch the TV Adaption.

The next book I read is probably a book that is going to make it on to my top books of 2017, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. This book is unbelievably important to the world we live in. THUG only came out at the end of February and it already has a film deal, if that doesn't show how important it is, I don't know what will. I loved Angie's writing style and I can't wait to read more books from her in the future. I also gave this book 5/5 stars.

The other book I reread was Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. With Lord of Shadows coming out this month (May 23rd),  I was in desperate need of a reread in preparation of my most anticipated release of the year. My opinions and feelings have not changed for this book. I still love it as much as I did last year when I read it last year. Still a 5/5 star rating from me.

The final book I read in April was probably the most disappointing book I read that month. I did not enjoy reading The Bone Season, but I heard that The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon was better. I didn't enjoy it. I gave it 2/5 stars and I am doubting whether I will continue with this series.   

So that concludes my April Wrap Up. How many books did you read in April? Have you read any of the books that I have read? What did you think of them?
Love,
Carenza x

Book Review Monday- The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon| It'sCarenzaB

In March I read The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon and soon after I started the sequel, The Mime Order. I finished it in April as I had a very bad reading month in April. I wasn't the biggest fan of The Bone Season and I had seen mixed reviews on The Mime Order, but I wanted to gather my own opinions on The Mime Order. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of The Mime Order, but I still wanted to review it.  Like all my reviews, this will contain spoilers for the books in this series (bar The Song Rising as I haven't read it).

The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

As I've already said, I wasn't a fan of The Mime Order. This book is over 500 pages and I personally feel that nothing very exciting happened until the last 50 pages. I wasn't a huge fan of The Bone Season, but I wanted to give The Mime Order a chance. I am doubting if I will enjoy The Song Rising and if I will continue with this series at this point. I gave it 2/5 stars on Goodreads.

Cover Chat

While I have problems with the series, I do love the covers. Samantha Shannon has been blessed by the cover gods. Like I mentioned in my Bone Season review, it was the covers that drew me in.

Plot

Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London...

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

As always, this was taken of Goodreads and the page is linked here. 

Opinions

I was really hoping that I was going to like The Mime Order (TMO) more than The Bone Season (TBS), but unfortunately I liked it less. So far this year, my problem with books has been the pacing and this books pacing was by far the worse I have read. Everything just seemed to be dragged out and it took me a while to finish this book because of the pacing. I understand that you can't just have action scenes all the time, but this book had some very good actions scenes and then the character building scenes in-between just dragged the book down.  

I touched on this in my TBS review, but I do not like the main characters, Paige and Warden. I find them very irritating and self-centered. All the decisions they make come out of nowhere and there is very little character development. The only character I vaguely like is Nick. Nick is such a sweet character and is so protective of Paige.

Considering the events of TBS, Paige doesn't seem too traumatized. Usually in the second book of a series, the main character is close to having a break down due to events in the first book. While I am glad that Samantha Shannon steered away from this stereotype, I would have liked there to have been more of an impact on Paige and The Seven Seals.

I did enjoy Jaxon as a "kind of villain", as compared to the actual villain (who after reading I still have no idea why they did what they did), was very good and I felt scared of him. Jaxon's character is definitely one of the most developed in the series as he as already gone on a huge journey between two books.    

I finished this book a little over two weeks ago as I'm posting this and I still have no idea what actually happened in TMO. It went in a completely different direction to TBS and seemed to have very little to do with what happened in TBS. It would have been more enjoyable if I had understood what had happened and actually answered some of the questions I had from TBS.

My main issue with the plot was Paige's betrayal of Jaxon. To me, it came out of nowhere and felt like an attempt for Paige to have power. While I can see how Jaxon treats the other members of The Seven Seals is bad, the way Paige publicly challenged him was unnecessary.  

I am doubting if I will continue with this series, but as I have book three (The Song Rising), I will read that before the year is out. I am not the hugest fan of series more than four books (The Mortal Instruments and Harry Potter being exceptions), so it is interesting that this is going to be a seven book series.

So that concludes my review of The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. Let me know what you thought of it and you are completely welcome to disagree with me. Just a quick note, I will not be posting regularly on here for the month of May due to exams at the end of the month. I hope you guys can understand, but once they are over, I will be posting lots on here!
Love,
Carenza x