2015 READING CHALLENGE: MAY ROUND-UP

In May, I read 3 in total, meaning that I have read 26 books so far in 2015, and am 87% of the way through my reading challenge.

In May, I started reading the fourth volume of Game of Thrones, 'A Feast for Crows' (by George R.R. Martin), and I am currently 254 pages out of 852 pages through it. I've been very busy this month with five upcoming deadlines, so I haven't had much time to read. In May, I also started 'The Raven Boys' by Maggie Stiefvater (which I am really loving), and I am currently 394 pages through it, out of 454.

In my April Round-Up, I mentioned that I had started and not yet finished 'A Darker Shade of Magic' by V.E.Schwab. In the end I decided that it just isn't the book for me, it's far to slow-paced and I wasn't engaged with the story that much, so I decided not to carry on reading it.

Books Read

1. 'The Elite'- Kiera Cass
I read the first book in this series, 'The Selection', in April and I fell in love. It was basically 'Miss Congeniality' in a book, with princesses and slushy romance and ahhhh. I enjoyed the 'The Elite', though no where near as much as 'The Selection'. America annoyed me far too much with her indecisiveness in this book, but apart from that I enjoyed this book a lot. I am so glad that I didn't discover this series until all three of the original books were out (more on that later), as there's no way I would've been able to wait for the third...

2. 'The One'- Kiera Cass
I won't say much about this as it's the final book in the original 'Selection' series (don't worry, I'm getting to the explanation, see below). I really enjoyed this book, I think the first will remain my favourite of the series, but this was a really great ending and I would highly recommend this series, I absolutely loved it.

3. 'The Hier'- Kiera Cass
In my defence here, I did not intend to read 'The Hier' quite so soon. It just so happened that the library decided to stock it as soon as it came out (which I didn't think would happen), but I couldn't not pause reading Game of Thrones to read this instead. I enjoyed this book, I flew through it in about four days, but another 'Selection' series really was not needed. The book is good, and I would recommend it to fans of the original series, but it just does not live up to the previous three books. I really enjoyed the scenes though where you got to see the four siblings just being siblings together and not royalty, those were really lovely and heartwarming.

FUJI GREEN TEA (DO NOT DRINK)

It's been far too long since I shopped in The Body Shop, it's a well-known fact that it is one of my all-time favourite brands, but it's been a while since I heard the calling to browse their lip balm selection (I would recommend Body Shop lip balms over nearly all others). Today, however, we can all rejoice over the return of the first Body Shop post since December.

The Body Shop appear to have a Japanese theme going on at the moment, including a new, limited edition range of products (that are still available, I have checked), in the new 'Fuji Green Tea' scent. (My friend got me this box set of a few for my birthday, and can we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful the box itself is, I'm excited to use the products purely to use the box for things). This set contains a full-sized shower gel, full-sized body butter, and mini body scrub, other (super cool) products in the range include bath tea (and a bath tea diffuser), soap, Eau de Cologne and a couple of other body products.

I am so awful at describing smells, and this particular one is so difficult to place. Right now I'm sitting here with the mini body scrub, and I can't get over how good it smells. The only way I could describe this is that it smells like summer in a tub. The website describes it pretty accurately, it has the most clean and refreshing scent ever, it's one of those scents where you feel so good after using it, just because of how good it smells. As many of you know, I'm not a fan of overly strong and powerful scents, and I'm big on my cleaner, lighter and more fresh scents (see my candles blog post for more!), and this range ticks all the boxes for me. There's no accurate way for me to describe this scent, it's unlike anything I've smelled before, while at the same time smelling really familiar and comforting, and I'd recommend going down to the Body Shop purely to check it out.

One of the things I secretly love most about this range, is the absolutely beautiful mint green packaging, which I can't deny looks great in my bathroom. As with all Body Shop products, the products themselves are amazing, and I can never fault the high quality the Body Shop delivers.

Rosie

IN THE MOOD FOR A CHAT

This is a post that I'd never considered doing before, but I love watching chatty Youtube videos and I was wondering if it would work in the form of a blog post. (It probably won't). Basically I'm in the mood for a chat and the radio silence on my blog for the past (over) two weeks needs to be addressed.

So yes, I've been neglecting my blog awfully at the moment, but it's that time of the year where any blogger in full-time education becomes non-existent in the bloggersphere. As we speak, I currently have one college deadline due in today (which I have done all the work for, don't worry), four more college deadlines looming in the first week of June, and then my English Lit. A2 exam coming up on June 11th. It's safe to say I'm busy. And stressed.

It's taken me a while to get back into my blogging groove after Christmas, I found that this happened last year, and it's not being helped by the lack of time and (secretly) forgetting to blog in the first couple of weeks of every month. I am also failing at posting a monthly favourites post, if we go way back to January, I had such ideas for this, but I have literally no favourites, I'm not changing up any of the things I'm using, I'm not using anything new, it's boring. So we will most likely hold on that until the summer (I always find I use new things in the summer). I do have a few ideas for posts for the rest of May, but it's getting late in the month and all these things involve effort and energy that I do not have. I'm planning an outfit of the day post to showcase my most favourite new item of clothing, but I always find myself comparing my ootd posts to other people's, and mine just never look as good. I'm also planning a post about concealers, but that means researching good high street concealers, and then actually having to leave my house to go and buy one. Sigh. The laziness is real. (I've also been wanting to redesign my blog for ages, but I am not at all good with technology and so that is a time consuming activity, and it will still never look as good as any other blog).

In other, immensely exciting news, my great aunt and uncle were on TV last Wednesday. BBC2 did a programme called the 'Great British Garden Watch', and they were picked to be on it, which is so unbelievably cool and exciting and I did go overboard with the tweeting. On the topic of tweeting, I can't remember if I mentioned the fact that I've set up a blog twitter @rozoid97 which you should check out. In other TV watching, I've been really enjoying Peter Kay's 'Car Share', which is hilarious, and I love Peter Kay a lot.

I'm currently waiting for my library books to arrive, I've got 'The Heir' by Kiera Cass, 'The Raven Boys' by Maggie Stiefvater, and 'Crown of Midnight' by Sarah J. Maas on their way, which is exciting (I'm especially excited for 'The Heir' after marathoning the rest of the series). I had an incredible reading month back in March, though since then I've had this mini slump lurking over me, and I can sense its return coming... I am worried. In other, more random news, I've been feeling really motivated fitness-wise these past couple of weeks, I'm searching for a yoga class, aiming to eat my five-a-day, and I'm tempted to buy a fitness DVD. What is happening to the world.

And there you have it. A spontaneous ramble about a few irrelevant things, I hope you enjoyed.

Rosie 

(I'm think about starting to sign off when I blog).