What I Read in May 2017 – Wrap Up & Mini Reviews

While I post book reviews on this blog, I actually read more in a month than I can cover in a weekly review and I thought it was high time to start with monthly reading round-ups, so all the books I've had the pleasure to enjoy that month can be spotlighted on here! This post marks the first monthly wrap up and is a real mix of adult reads (fiction and non-fiction), young adult and even children's. Out of the books I read in May my favourites were When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and Trouble Makes a Comeback by Stephanie Tromly ♥

Trying Healthy Drinks at 42 Juice in Brighton

I've been really into fresh fruit and veg juices lately, especially ginger shots and any combination that has carrot and orange in it. I love smoothies too and I make those at home but for juices I don't have the right equipment (yet). So I'm always on the look-out for new juice places to try out and I heard great things about 42 Juice in Brighton. Not only do they serve a huge selection of cold-pressed juices, freshly prepared smoothies, shots, and alkaline waters, but their interior is super Instagrammable too. ♥

I Love Holland: Gezelligheid

Ages ago I promised you more posts on the Netherlands, and then life happened... oops. But I finally have some blogs planned for you guys and since I'm visiting my family again for a good week from tomorrow I thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to start with gezelligheid. You've likely heard about the Danish word hygge in the past year and gezelligheid is similar (though better, of course, ssshhh) as it describes a cosy and homely feeling, atmosphere or past-time and is one of the biggest things I love about being home (in addition to seeing my family). In this blog I highlight the things that define gezelligheid in the Netherlands. 

An Instagram Tour of Oxford

After my Instagram tours of Paris and Brighton, it was inevitable that I would do one of beautiful Oxford as well. The city of colleges, Narnia, Harry Potter, Middle Earth and more bookish greats (which you can read about in my Literary Guide to Oxford) is also called the city of Dreaming Spires and it's easy to see why with the beautiful college buildings seeming to go on forever as you look up and around you ♥ I shared a few of my snapshots on Instagram already but most of these are new, and I hope you enjoy them!

The Addams Family at New Wimbledon Theatre (UK Tour)

I adore the score of The Addams Family musical. It's fun, catchy and makes you instantly want to snap your fingers along to the beat of the music. I've listened to the original Broadway soundtrack tons of times, and may have played the clips on YouTube more times than I can remember. I love the music so much, in fact, that I went out of my way to see an amateur production of the show a few years ago.. it wasn't good. Needless to say I was very excited when a UK tour was announced, because finally I could see a production of this wonderfully cheesy musical that would do the source material justice.

A Photo Tour of Wisteria Hysteria in London

If you follow any London-based Instagram accounts you can't have missed the wisteria hysteria sweeping across everyone's photos. This gorgeous purple rain cascading along the walls in mostly West London, not only leaves a gorgeous fragrance in its wake but it also looks incredible pretty (especially when a picture-perfect pastel-pink door peeks through the flowers). The wisteria season is unfortunately almost over already, but if you didn't have time to check it out for yourself don't despair, I spent a sunny Sunday wandering through the Kensington and Notting Hill areas, capturing some of the best #wisteriahysteria moments for you to enjoy.

7 Easy Ways to Boost Your Instagram Engagement – Top Tips & Handy Apps

I've had my Instagram account since the app became available on Android but I never used it for my blog. Instead I posted very irregular random updates of my life that didn't really have any cohesiveness to it. And if there is one buzzword in the Instagram world then it's 'theme', and you should apparently have one to create a clean feed that people want to follow and engage with. With my Twitter account growing quite slowly, a little over a month ago I decided to put my efforts into Instagram instead and see if it'd be worth it. Could I grow this channel to become a valuable addition to my blog? While my audience isn't big, in one month I did grow by over 50% to 500+ followers with an engagement of 20%-30 on each photo. In this post I'll share some of my learnings and useful apps I've found, and I hope they help you grow your Instagram engagement too.

Trying the Gousto Food Box – Is It Worth It?

I love spending time in the kitchen and I cook most of my dinners myself from scratch, but I do sometimes feel I'm making the same dishes over and over again. While I have shelves full of cookery books and I love flicking through them, salivating over the scrumptious imagery within their pages, they rarely inspire me to actually cook outside of my comfort zone right then and there, because I don't have all the necessary ingredients at hand. Gousto perfectly solves that dilemma by not only having enticing food photography on their website and recipe cards, but by also providing you with everything you need to recreate the dishes in one handy box, delivered straight to your door. I'd heard a lot about this foodie subscription service before and I was keen to put them to the test myself. Is cooking with Gousto as effortless and delicious as it sounds?

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

I was super impressed by Riley Redgate's debut novel Seven Ways We Lie, which I had the pleasure to review last year. It was a superb contemporary YA read, touching upon many different issues facing young people today and with a diverse cast of characters. It was clever, gripping and hugely relatable, making it not only fun novel for today's teens but also a very important one. So as soon as I heard about Riley's second novel, which would be set in the competitive world of university a cappella competitions, I was sold.

Celebrating Women's Fiction & Thriller Authors at HQ

HQ is the latest division from HarperCollins and it's one that I'm very excited to explore. Rather than sticking to a single genre, their list is an eclectic mix of women's fiction, thrillers, non-fiction and young adult, the theme bringing them all together being books that are written exceptionally well. I've already been hearing great things about them, but it wasn't until their first blogger event last week that I had a chance to meet the team and see some of the fabulous new titles they're bringing out soon – or have just published – with my own eyes.

An Instagram Tour of Brighton

A few months ago I posted An Instagram Tour of Paris, which was a fun way to feature a place I had visited without getting lost in a super lengthy blog post (I know I can be wordy at times!). And since I loved my recent visit to Brighton so much it was inevitable that I would do yet another post about this colourful and eclectic seaside city. I figured doing a photographic tour would be perfect to show off the city's Eastern-inspired Royal Pavilion and famous pebble beach, and it would also give me the opportunity to share my Instagram feed with you all as I've been working hard in the last month on creating a beautiful feed and growing my channel. Enjoy! ♥

Behind-the-Scenes at Alice's Adventures Underground at The Vaults

Imagine walking into a wondrous bar where cocktails have jam tarts on the top, the stirrer is a lollipop, and you can have a hearty dose of mock turtle chips or a Jabberwocky burger. Now imagine wading through the pages of a book before you're given the choice between 'eat me' and 'drink me', your decision defining your path for the rest of the fantastical evening. Will you be a rebel, or do you cheer for the Queen of Hearts and all she stands for? There is only one way to find out and that is to go to Alice's Adventures Underground at the Vaults, an imaginative and immerse theatrical experience created by Les Enfants Terrible.

The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Last year I made it my mission to read more children's novels again, and my favourite one I read was undoubtedly The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. It was a novel filled to the brim with magical adventures and girl power. Doused in the same inventive world-building and storytelling as myths and legends, it was an endlessly exciting discovery all while infusing important subjects such as friendship, family and kick-ass female heroines. It deservedly won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and I was very excited when I was given the opportunity to review Kiran's brand-new novel, The Island at the End of Everything.

A Book Lover's Guide to Literary Oxford

Oxford is steeped in literary history, being the birth place to imaginative places such as Narnia and Middle Earth, and having links to more contemporary reads such as Harry Potter and His Dark Materials too. The big book geek that I am, I of course made it my mission to see as many places in the city of dreaming spires related to literature, from Tolkien's Oxford home right down to what could've been the inspiration for Mr Tumnus to C.S. Lewis. And from the shop where the real Alice from Lewis Carroll's famous Wonderland books bought her sweets, to an impressive dining hall that looks to come straight out of Hogwarts. In fact, much of the gorgeous architecture and surroundings in Oxford look quite fantastical and it's no surprise it was the inspiration for so many imaginative worlds.